20 Mar 2017

Letlhakeng Sub-district official says government programmes meant to emancipate people from poverty should be treated with the seriousness they deserve by both the implementing officers and the beneficiaries for them to succeed.

Mr Boammaaruri Otlhogile who is deputy district commissioner expressed concern at the tendency by some beneficiaries to abandon their projects at the first sight of challenges, while others, especially those who have been assisted with chicken and goats often sell or slaughter them only to claim they have been decimated by either predators of diseases.

He however, said the irony was that such beneficiaries would never have reported to government officials.

Speaking at a one day event by various government departments dubbed ‘Taking Services to the People’ in Botlhapatlou on March 16, he therefore pleaded with the beneficiaries to safeguard such projects to be able to enjoy their long term benefits.

He also informed them that he was aware of other challenges they faced, such as late delivery of project equipment.

He also encouraged residents of the village to always inform his office about civil servants who were sleeping on the job so that appropriate actions can be taken as a way of improving service delivery.

He said civil servants should serve the public and not vice versa.

On other issues Mr Otlhogile informed residents that the Ipelegeng programme guidelines does not allow for the worker to be relieved from work by another person, saying that on occasion when such happens it would just be a gesture of Botho.

“Ipelegeng is not treated as a form of employment, and that is why we sometimes temper the guidelines with Botho, and in an instance where the employee really has to be relieved it should not be more than three days,” he said.

Mr Otlhogile clarified after it emerged that some people have a tendency of registering for Ipelegeng only to give their slot to someone else while they only wait for month end to collect the allowance.

Meanwhile a Department of Wildlife and National Parks official, Mr Luka Lephogole informed residents of Botlhapatlou that they may as well get used to the fact that elephants were now back in their area and find ways of co-existing with them and their consequences such as destruction of crops.

Mr Lephogole said as the name of the village suggests, the area used to be populated by elephants which disappeared with time, but said there have been reports of them in the area, especially during the rainy season where water was in abundance.

He however, advised them that an elephant was a gentle animal which posed little threat to human life if not harassed, and that a minimum of noises such as clapping of hands or rattling of cans was enough to scare them off ploughing fields. ENDS