15 Jan 2017

Makalamabedi residents have been advised to prioritise projects that could generate income when implementing the National Development Plan (NDP) 11.
Member of Parliament for Boteti West, Mr Slumber Tsogwane advised thus during a kgotla meeting in Makalamabedi recently.

He said they should choose projects that could stimulate the economy and create employment opportunities for them.

He stated that NDP 11 aimed at eradicating poverty and creating employment opportunities, adding that NDP 10 had a lot of projects on backlog, hence the need to prioritise projects during the implementation of NDP 11 and do more with little resources.

Mr Tsogwane, who is also the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, noted that due to limited funds, only a small number of projects were done in each village across the country.

He therefore appealed with members of the public and private sector to work in partnership with government to create employment.

Monitoring and evaluation of NDP 11 projects, he said, would be undertaken, citing that cost over-runs and time over-runs affect the economy.

He said NDP 11 would be undertaken within a six-year period.
Mr Tsogwane explained that Motopi/Makalamabedi road as well as a police post and enhancement of the clinic, which would be done in partnership with Debswana, would be done during NDP 11.

He stated that community project fund, which is a constituency based programme, could be used to develop such projects as postal agency and pavement of internal roads.

The fund, he said, would be given P10 million and would be used to cater for smaller projects that could not be covered in the National Development Plan.

Village Development Committees (VDC) he said, would undertake planning for the project fund.

Further, Mr Tsogwane said Ipelegeng was not established to create jobs, but was intended to relieve people from poverty.

The VDC chairperson, Ms Phenyo Dimpe requested four classrooms for Baipidi Primary School, stating that Standard One pupils were attending lessons in outdoor areas.

She also cited shortage of teachers’ accommodation, saying majority of teachers were sharing houses.

Ms Dimpe also added that the school staffroom and kitchen were not electrified.

Further, she stated that Makalamabedi Junior Secondary School had shortage of classrooms, no accommodation for deputy school head and one head of department.

Ms Dimpe also complained that there was only one English teacher at the school with an overwhelming number of Form One pupils, adding that teachers were transferred without a replacement. BOPA