14 Feb 2016

The Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso, has advised Village Development Committee (VDC) members in the Letlhakeng Sub-district to adhere to the new regulations that govern their operations.

Addressing the members in Letlhakeng , Ms Tshireletso said government decided to replace the initial guidelines with new regulations to give VDCs more powers.

She said such powers would help them in dealing with common challenges such as tenants that default on payment of VDC rentals. She however, cautioned that the new regulations now means VDCs are in a capacity to sue of be sued.

Ms Tshireletso also said that the regulations will now require the treasurers of VDCs to be trained in basic aspects of bookkeeping as they will now be held accountable for improper use of funds.

“The regulations also mean that VDC finances will be audited and if anything is wrong, the treasures will have to account.

This is the reason it is important to take them for training because initially we just exposed them to the abyss without giving them necessary skills,” she said.

She also informed the gathering that VDCs also hadhe power over all the other village committees, hence the necessity to liaise with them in all issues that affected the village.

Ms Tshireletso also raised concern on poor handing over when a new committee takes over, saying the requirement under the new regulations is strict as the books will be audited before the handing over can be done.

For his part, senior assistant council secretary for Letlhakeng Sub-District, Mr Nigel Mangoye advised VDCs to appeal to either his office or that of the deputy district commissioner on tenants who defaulted on rental payments.

He also said the number of slots for non-rotational beneficiaries under Ipelegeng could be divorced from that of the general membership as the quota is given holistically to a village.

During the meeting, members of VDCs across the sub-district aired their views of their daily challenges. The vice chairman of Letlhakeng North VDC, Mr Jacob Lebeko called for members to be paid a monthly salary of at least P1 500.

He said this was because their work was overwhelming. ENDS