17 Jan 2016

Kgosi Boitshepo Maselwa of Sekakangwe has attributed his village’s lack of access to quality service delivery to the shortage of accommodation for public officers. 

Kgosi Maselwa made the observation during his welcome remarks at a kgotla meeting addressed by the MP for Tati West, Mr Biggie Butale recently.

He said the situation was so bad that some officers who had been transferred to Sekakangwe had not moved to their new duty station as a result of lack of accommodation.

This, Kgosi Maselwa said, meant that the village relied on a limited number of public officers to serve them. He said it impacted negatively on the quality of service delivery residents of his village enjoyed.

Echoing the same sentiments, a resident, Mr Shepherd Mogapi said some officers’ transfers and postings to the village had been put on hold due to the issue.

Mr Mogapi noted that in addition to the problem, there was also a shortage of resources such as transport for use by the few public officers assigned to serve Sekakangwe. He said it did not make sense to expect officers such as the police to effectively discharge their mandate when they did not have a vehicle at their disposal.

Raising an unrelated issue, another resident, Mr Luja Motingwa decried the congestion at the Barclays Bank in Masunga.

He said despite the bank serving a large number of clients, its premises were not big enough and the staff complement was not adequate to handle customers.

Mr Motingwa noted that Ipelegeng workers, whom he said comprised mostly the elderly, were always subjected to excessively long queues in order to cash their cheques.

This, he said, was despite the fact that there were no ablution facilities for customers at the bank.

In response, MP Butale informed residents that the government would through the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) build houses for public officers throughout the country.

He expressed optimism that Sekakangwe would also benefit from the project.

He, however, advised residents with the means to build houses for rent. He said it would help to ease the pressure on the government to single-handedly provide housing for staff.

On congestion at Barclays Bank, MP Butale said the information he had from the bank was that it was not in the business of setting up buildings but that it relied on renting existing structures. Ends