21 Jan 2016

Kgosi Lotlaamoreng II has encouraged residents of Tshidilamolomo and Mmmakgori to fully use the recently opened Tshidilamolomo community crossing point to their advantage.

Addressing kgotla meetings in the villages on Tuesday, Kgosi Lotlaamoreng, who is the Member of Parliament for Good Hope\Mabule constituency said the community cross border point was convenient and safe.

He said the maximum use of the facility, which has been agreed by the governments of Botswana and South Africa, would lead to authorities considering expanding it to a fully fledged border post.

He said such a development would grow the economy of the constituency which would benefit his constituents.

The Tshidilamolomo community crossing point was jointly officially opened last month by the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu and South African Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Malusi Gigaba. The cross border point is intended to serve residents of Sekhutlane, Mabule, Tshidilamolomo and Mmakgori who had to travel a long distance to Phitshane Molopo to access the border.

The cross border point has eased access to villages in South Africa as they now travel less than five kilometres to get to Tshidilamolomo in South Africa.

Statistics from the community crossing point show that in the month of December 2015, 54 Batswana crossed into South Africa while 52 crossed from South Africa into Botswana.

In the same month, only nine South African citizens crossed into Botswana while 10 crossed from Botswana to South Africa. An official passport, a cross border access card and a form authorised by the Tshidilamolomo kgosi are required to use the facility. 

Users of the crossing point can only spend 24 hours on the South African side of the border after crossing, and can only travel a distance not more than 25 kilometres while South Africans crossing to Botswana can only travel a distance not more than 50 kilometres.

The community cross point operates from 6am and closes at 4pm on a daily basis. Kgosi Lotlaamoreng criticised residents who resort to crossing the border at undesignated areas, saying they should know that they were committing a crime that was punishable by law.

He also thanked residents for voting for him to be their representative in Parliament.

He said he was looking forward to a fruitful term in public office and called for all stakeholders in the constituency to cooperate so as to improve service delivery.

On other issues, residents of the two villages decried shortage of water, saying it impacts negatively on businesses and their day to day activities.

Villagers requested that pit latrines be brought back to use to respond to the situation. They further requested for boreholes, especially in public areas such as at the kgotla, clinics and staff houses.

Residents also raised concern about the theft of engines which were used to pump water from their boreholes.

They said about four engines have been stolen from various boreholes across various villages. 

They said the theft has compromised Water Utilities Corporation’s water supply. Residents also expressed concern at the shortage of official transport in all government departments including ambulances.  

They said the problem forces them to find their own transport at a cost to access health institutions such as the Good Hope and Athlone hospitals in Lobatse.

In his response, Kgosi Lotlaamoreng said it was important to report criminal acts to relevant authorities for appropriate measures to be taken. Ends