11 May 2016

The Minister for Presidential and Affairs and Public Administration (MOPAPA), Mr Eric Molale, has called for the resuscitation of village extension teams (VETs), in order to improve service delivery.

Addressing extension teams from Sekhutlane to Ditlharapa villages on May 9, he said some districts were lagging behind in terms of government programmes uptake due to lack of proper communication.

He said VETs were formed to act as intermediaries between government and the community to inform them about government programmes in place, through which the lives of the citizens and the economy could be transformed.

Minister Molale said VET was one of the oldest coordination structures of service delivery and rural development alongside structures such as village development committees, district extension teams and district development committees.

Mr Molale said since independence, these structures played a key role in driving rural development.

However, he said things had taken a  turn, as there were concerns that some VETs were  not functioning effectively.

He said if service delivery was weakened at the community level, the entire bottom up planning process and structures would collapse, and in its place the outcry of unsatisfied customers and poor service delivery would be heard.

“The outcry has already been registered throughout the country”, he said.

He said the failure of village committees led to disjointed approach to extension services delivery, which might ultimately confuse recipients, because some would perceive government programmes as isolated and uncoordinated interventions.

He also said the same intended programmes might not even reach the relevant recipients’ if the village committees werenot functional.

He implored VETs to rise to the challenges and intensify their efforts in delivering services to their communities in a timely and coordinated manner.

In addition, he implored all extension officers, to refrain from politics as the move will affect proper articulation of government programmes to the communities. ENDS