22 Oct 2015

North West District councillors have approved the District Development Plan 8 proposals with mixed feelings as some complained that their amendments were not incorporated into the plan. They aired their concerns during a special full council meeting aimed at appraising them on the proposals before submission to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

Some councillors said corrections they made during sub-council meetings were not reflected in the plan and wanted clarifications from the planners. 

They expressed frustration that most of the projects included were not addressing the issues of concern in their respective areas.

Cllr Ngatumbwe Kazombungo of Nokaneng/Habu said 90 per cent of the projects discussed at the Okavango Sub-district were not included in the proposals plan. 

Cllr Mbaha Kambimba, who is the chairperson of the Okavango Sub District Council, said he appreciated that planners had to prioritise, but wanted an explanation and reasons why some of the projects were not incorporated.

Nominated Cllr Abel Molelo said the district would always lack behind in developments because of poor planning by experts. 

However, some councillors noted that the planners could have omitted some projects by mistake and asked them to include them before submission. 

They said the planners were under pressure to meet the deadline of submission.

They also urged the district commissioner and council secretary to attend to correspondences on time, saying it was frustrating as they treated important issues as emergency hence they do things under pressure.

However, the council approved the proposals after discussions and explanations from the planners who assured councillors that they would include the suggested projects which were left out.

Council chairperson, Mr Reaboka Mbulawa said their frustrations were a sign that they cared about the inspirations of their communities. 

He said the plan had included most of the projects which were answers to the concerns of communities.

 He said the plan had good projects which could take the district to a higher level such as the construction of Rural Administration Centres (RACs) and extension offices. 

Mr Mbulawa said the mandate of the council was to bring services closer to the people and welcomed the proposed projects.

The district development officer, Mr Desmond Ramodisa said they prioritised corrections made basing on the advice from different departments hence it was impossible to incorporate all the proposed projects.

He said they had to look at the whole district to distribute developments evenly without focusing on main villages.

Mr Ramodisa said they were also guided by the micro economic outline, noting that if they plan without a budget ceiling, they would not have a visible and achievable plan.

He informed the house that the proposals were subject to change as consultation and prioritisation were done without any budget ceiling from the ministries.

He noted that they were advised to align the plan with the four thematic areas of social upliftment, sustainable environment, economy and employment and governance, safety and security.

Some of the projects, he said, have not yet started and were likely to spill over to the next plan period of NDP11/DDP8, as they form part of the district priority and have been placed at the top of each thematic working group to demonstrate that.

Furthermore, Mr Ramodisa explained that some of the projects have been considered as priority as they were raised during the NDP10/DDP7 mid-term review. Ends