03 Oct 2016

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Slumber Tsogwane has said rising numbers of cases that involved local companies doing shoddy jobs should be condemned “in the strongest possible way.”

Mr Tsogwane said this during kgotla meetings in Mabule and Tshidilamolomo recently, describing the development as “a shame that calls for blacklisting.”

He said government was making great efforts to deliver quality service to the public and due to resource constraints, private companies were roped in to assist where possible to speed up service delivery since they were capacitated enough to deliver services effectively and efficiently.

However, he said some companies failed to complete the tendered jobs as per agreement .

He was responding to the residents of the two villages’ concern that Sandulela company that takes care of pensioners, world war veterans and People Living with Disability’s  payments was failing to deliver to expectations, with some calling for return to BotswanaPost.

Mr Tsogwane explained that the decision to outsource the payment services was meant to address, among others, challenges of security.  

Even then, he said Sandulela had been engaged on a pilot basis for three years in the Southern District while the rest of the districts remained under BotswanaPost.

He warned that poor service delivery did not only drain government coffers, but would in the  long run have negative impact on the country’s economy.

On other issues, he encouraged residents to familiarise themselves with the Children’s Act for the sake of protecting and supporting children against abuse.

In response, the director of Sandulela, Mr Percy Radikoro acknowledged the residents’ concerns and said they were working round the clock to address the challenges.  ENDS