02 Apr 2017

Member of Parliament for Tonota, Mr Thapelo Olopeng has urged farmers to take care of their ploughed fields so that they have good harvest.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting , he said they should meet government half way as they were given seeds to plough and help them eradicate poverty.

Mr Olopeng, who is also the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development encouraged them to help one another through the olden way of letsema so that those who did not manage to plough could also reap something.

“Back then, letsema worked miracles as it brought societies together and helped fill the gap of asking from neighbours, hence preventing theft from the fields and the spirit should prevail as it was indeed a good thing,” he added.

He emphasised that they should make sure that the fields were well-protected from the livestock as they normally targeted them as harvest time neared.

The Tonota MP further encouraged them to use the clay soil found in their area for development and poverty eradication.

Mr Olopeng said they could use it as a source of income and job creation for the residents of the ward, hence helping curb unemployment in the country.

He added that they should use of the natural resources to their own advantage as they were a gift from God.

On other issues, Tonota South East Councillor, Mr Gaehele Sdombo revealed that Foley ward would use its share of P350 000 from the P10 million constituency development fund to build a house to accommodate a nurse, who would be based in the area.

He said this came after the discussions they had with the Ward Development Committee (WDC) on the matter, which needed urgent attention and had since been prioritised to have a health worker to relieve people from travelling distances to seek medical help.

He said for a long time people in the area had been attended to on set dates, something that did not settle well with them.

Cllr Sdombo added that with the health worker nearer, health screening of residents would be easier.

The WDC chairperson, Mr Thatayaone Matlhare requested that culverts should be built on the two water streams they cross to the cemetery.

He said during rainy seasons, the streams got filled easily, which disturbed funeral proceedings, which he fears someday, would lead to mourners stuck on the other side with a corpse.

Mr Matlhare further asked the land board authorities to allocate them space for market stalls.

“We have youth projects, which are not doing well because they are not getting exposure of their products and market space will give them a platform to sell and get customers along the A1 Road,” he added.  ENDS