10 Mar 2016

The Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele, has said economic programmes if taken advantage of, could play a significant role in combating unemployment and poverty.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Ramotswa  Mr Makgalemele expressed concern that some Batswana were failing to benefit from the programmes meant for them.

“The existing programmes are intended to encourage Batswana to venture into business and create much needed employment,” he said.

The minister faulted the youth especially, for being slow in using the existing programmes to their advantage. He said the youth were catered for in almost all of the existing programmes as well as having their age brackets specific programmes such Youth Development Fund (YDF).

Mr Makgalemele who is also the Member of Parliament for Shoshong cautioned that government alone cannot create employment for everyone hence the need for the private sector to play a role too.

He noted that government has identified over 144 import substitution products which can be set up to reduce the country’s import bill.

In addition, the assistant minister called upon the public service to ensure that local business do not collapse due to lack of support , adding that government has taken a decision to support local businesses.

Commenting on what the minister said, the attendants decried what they termed poor monitoring of projects under the YDF, understaffed government offices while others blamed government officials for not being proactive in rolling out economic empowerment programmes.

In response, ministry of youth sport and culture official, Ms Atamelang Temba said they were aware of poor monitoring of YDF funded projects.

Hence, she said they have resolved to embark on monitoring exercises fortnightly to address the situation as well as taking advantage of Government Volunteer Scheme (GVS) and Internship Programme participants to add numbers to their team.

Earlier when welcoming the assistant minister, Kgosi Mosadi of Balete said the Mogobane Irrigation Scheme which was financed by government at P10 million was progressing well. She said they have already invested around P4 million into the project and were hopeful for its success. Ends