13 Oct 2016

Residents of Matakana in Shashe West constituency have appealed to their Member of Parliament Mr Fidelis Molao following his updating on the new voting system that education on the system should not be limited to urban areas but be spread to rural areas as well.

They made the appeal during a kgotla meeting on Wednesday (October 12) at Matakana.  In his update,  Mr Molao also Assistant Minister for Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology said in the coming 2019 general elections, the use of ballot papers will be no more as the government has adopted the use of the new electronic voting system.

Commenting on the update, residents noted that often sensitisation on changes on things of national concern is usually confined to urban areas and they wonder whether this is caused by low population density in rural areas when compared to towns and cities.

Because of that they said, they often get disadvantaged as they end up having to take part in issues they are not well informed on. They further stressed that in their areas literacy level is still very low hence adapting to changes takes time particularly when they have not been educated on such changes. And for those reasons, some end up not taking part not because they do not want to but because they get discouraged by lack of knowledge.

One of the residents, Ms Baitlhatswi Mooke proposed that although their settlement falls under Matsitama, when consultations and sensitisation are carried out, they should also be visited at their respective areas since they have wards where meetings can be held at.

This, she said will give them the opportunity to learn and understand at ease instead of them being paired with people from areas that are advanced in technology.

On other issues, Ms Mooke raised concern that they have long requested that they be assisted with Out of School Education and Training (OSET)  because they too want to be literate.

For his part, Mr Molao said education on the new voting system is going to be arranged in such a way that it will cover a good number of places as well as people. And expectation is that those who will have been trained should also show others how it is done. ENDS