18 Jan 2016

The programmes officer in the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, Mogoditshane constituency office, Mr Moatlhodi Phetogo has urged parents to allow their children to operate businesses at home since there was a challenge of office rental in the area.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting addressed by Mogoditshane Member of Parliament, Mr Sedirwa Kgoroba, Mr Phetogo said property rent was too high, adding that the owners never consider that the businesses were youth-operated and were just taking off.  He said the Kweneng District Council has agreed that some youth businesses could be operated at home due to the challenge.

My Phetogo also said Limkokwing University of Creative Technology has volunteered to assess youth businesses in the field of photography.

For his part, Mr Kgoroba urged residents to be patient when seeking poverty eradication initiatives even if they were told funds were not available.

Regarding unemployment, Mr Kgoroba said the unemployed should register with his office, adding that he does not promise employment, but to locate individuals if any job opportunity comes up.

In order to help school drop-outs and those who did not accumulate good grades and enough points at junior and senior school levels, Mr Kgoroba said his office would start an educational programme for the youth to better their grades.

He said a recently registered community trust would consult with the Ministry of Education and Skills Development to use educational facilities in the community.

He said teachers would be asked to volunteer in the programme, and that there would be a tuition fee but that it would be cheaper compared to private schools. Mr Kgoroba also said the programme would operate with the aid of voluntary funding from community members, adding that teachers would be paid some allowance.

In order to curb crime in  Mogoditshane, he said the community should raise funds for mounting street lights, saying they would deploy experts to survey how and where to mount the lights.

For their part, residents decried the slow pace at which the Kweneng Land Board allocates plots, with some saying they applied for plots decades ago, but were still waiting. Ends