08 Jan 2017

The youth of Monarch in Francistown have expressed displeasure over the unavailability of a community hall in their location.

Being one of the oldest locations in Francistown, Monarch has seen major developments since 2009 but the youth particularly those in the creative arts are of the view that with the number of talented young people in the location, a community hall was necessary to host events of all kind.

Mr Ofentse Seboko, popularly known in the music circles around Francistown and beyond as Bicko Gee stated in an interview with BOPA that the construction of a community hall in Monarch was long overdue as the location is richly blessed with talented youngsters.

The revered rap artiste, Mr Seboko, took a swipe at the Monarch leadership for dragging their feet on this matter.

“Our leaders should make this issue their top priority solely on the fact that Monarch has produced some of Botswana’s hottest music artistes.
The talent in this location does not go unnoticed all over Botswana.

 

It needs to be nurtured well and a community hall is a great start to realising such talent,” he said.

Furthermore, he stated that he was aggrieved by the fact that Monarch talent is exported to other areas of the country where there are better resources such as venues and trending entertainment spot than Francistown.
He said that can be halted only if the youth in Francistown are provided with the right resources to grow their talent.

Many youngsters who showed their displeasure at the unavailability of a community hall are of the view that the current venues such as the open hall at Come Again Bars in Area 2 and the Boswa hall next to Kagiso Funeral Parlour were not suitable to their needs and that using them was not that easy because they were privately owned.

Shows held at these venues, they said, often flopped because of lack of security and their dilapidated state.

A notable resident of Monarch who was born and raised in the location and currently a specially elected Francistown councillor and a member of the Council Committee on Youth, Mr Zazambi Tuelo acknowledged that indeed there was a dire need for a community hall in Monarch.

The urgency of such a facility, he said, came to his realisation when he recently learned of a huge music festival that was held by the Monarch youth at Monarch Area Seven in front of Big and Bold Bars open space on December 31.

“On the grounds of the population of this location and its rich history, there is absolutely no excuse as to why the area does not have a community hall to serve our youngsters up to today.

 In my conversation with the MP for Francistown West, Ignatius Moswaane, we have agreed that this issue will be part of our priorities this year. Personally I will raise this matter with the council youth committee and with the council executive committee.

There is a reserved land for a community hall to be built.

MP Moswaane, through a request he made to council was given permission to source funds for the construction of a community hall at the old Unik Construction office site next to the new Mexican Dogs football club grounds,” Tuelo said.

For her part, Monarch West Ward Development Committee (WDC) chairperson, Ms Rosinah Lekgaba also stated that their committee had long pushed for the construction of a community hall in Monarch after receiving many requests from local youth who were mainly in the creative industry.

Lekgaba acknowledged that with the talent that Monarch youngsters have, such a facility is top priority but unfortunately, they could not secure finance to begin such a project.

“The ward committee has a plot in front of Mmei Community Junior School where the community hall building was earmarked to be built. The plot is currently used by a local church.

At first we wanted to construct a kindergarten there but decided it was not safe, particularly that it was by the river bank hence decided a community hall would be more appropriate.
We have approached several local banks to seek finances but nothing has come up this far.

Some banks have shown the willingness to assist in this project but with conditions that we should at least have a foundation slab in place to show our commitment to such a project, but still, that too, was impossible looking at our finances,” she said.

Ms Lekgaba appealed to companies and individuals to assist them in their endeavour to construct a community hall for the Monarch youth. ENDS