01 Mar 2016

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development will construct 30 customary court offices across the country in the 2016/17 financial year.

That, Minister Slumber Tsogwane said was intended to address acute shortage of office accommodation as well as improve working conditions of Dikgosi.

Presenting his ministry’s budget proposal for the 2016/17 financial year, he said construction of such offices would stimulate economic activities within villages and create jobs.

Nonetheless, he said significant progress had been made within the ministry in improving and resourcing the Department of Tribal Administration.

He appreciated that since independence, bogosi had played a pivotal role in providing important interface between communities and government, adding the ministry was working with Botswana Public Service College on capacity building for Dikgosi.

Again, he said during the current financial year, the ministry was allocated funds to pay 286 headmen of arbitration monthly allowances. 

“To date, 202 posts of headmen of arbitration have been filled up while consultations are still ongoing for the remaining 82 from various districts,” he said.

Meanwhile, the minister indicated that maintenance of tribal administration facilities was also ongoing under an allocated budget of over P4.6 million for this financial year under infrastructure maintenance programme.

Further, he noted that a total of 32 projects were undertaken, out of which six offices were electrified while 26 included maintenance projects.

Of the 26, he said 17 were complete while nine were still ongoing and over P3 million had been spent to date.

The remaining balance, he explained, would be spent before the end of the current financial year.

He also told Parliament that 30 vehicles had been procured and were currently being distributed, adding an additional 25 vehicles would also be distributed under the one-vehicle per village initiative. 

On other issues, the minister indicated that as a way of strengthening service delivery at district level, the ministry would continue to coordinate village/ward development committee activities.

On the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) , the minister hailed the programme as a welcome development in providing basic services or infrastructure, creating business opportunities for both small, medium and large scale enterprises as well as individuals.

As a result, he indicated that the first batch of the ESP would deliver 122 classrooms, 456 toilets and 125 teachers’ houses in the next financial year.

The number of facilities, he said, was taken from a total backlog of 401 classrooms, 1 280 toilets and 486 teachers’ houses in 123 schools across the country.

Again, the minister noted that considering limited implementation capacity, the public and private sector as well as available financial resources, the ministry would deal with the backlog in three batches.

He indicated that batches two and three of primary schools backlog eradication would be financed and dealt with within the first two years of NDP 11.  Ends