25 Apr 2017

Tati West MP, Mr Biggie Butale has informed the residents of Jackals 1 and Ramokgwebana that part of the P1.5 billion loan that Parliament authorised will go towards improving water supply in the North East District.
Addressing kgotla meetings in the two villages on Monday, Mr Butale who is also the Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry said P400 million would be used to procure a water engine for the Mbalambi pump station.
He explained that while the procuring process could take up to six months the residents should remain optimistic because once completed their water problems would become a thing of the past.
He further told the residents that although the bulk of the national budget was recurrent a small portion went towards development and the district was fortunate as Tshesebe-Masunga road would be part of the developments for the current financial year.
Mr Butale informed the residents that since his constituency had 27 villages it meant from the P10 million constituency budget each village would get P300 000.
He also told the residents that as part of his efforts to improve the quality of education in the constituency he would engage in a cycling from Masunga to Gaborone to raise funds towards the construction of computer laboratories and installing information communication technology (ICT) peripherals in the schools in the constituency.
In Jackals 1, one of the residents Ms Siphiwe Mguni applauded the MP for his mission of raising funds for ICT project adding that children in the rural areas were lagging behind in terms of technology as opposed to their counterparts in urban areas. Ms Mguni said while she could not cycle due to old age she would support the MP’s endevour through a pledge.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, Kgosi Tapson Jackals decried the shortage of water in the village adding that in most cases the residents were forced to drink untreated water from the local dam.
He also complained of freezing of plot allocation by  land board since the implementation of Land Administration Procedures Capacity And Systems (LAPCAS) project. Kgosi Jackals said since the halting of allocation some residents were selling plots to those who had the urgency to build.

Jackals 1 VDC chairperson, Mr Obert Sechele requested for the upgrading of the village health post to a clinic. Mr Sechele said since Jackals 1 was at the point of entry into the country there was need to have a well-equipped clinic that could also service visitors.
He called for the renaming of the Ramokgwebana Border post saying calling it with the name of another village while it was in Jackals 1 confused people.
The VDC chairperson echoed the sentiments byth kgosi on the shortage of water and he lamented that the problem negatively impacted on the education of the children because whenever there was no water children were released early at school.

Mr Abednico Farmer said he was disappointed that while there was acute shortage of water in the village the residents continued to  receive water bills.
In Ramokgwebana, the VDC chairperson, Mr Godfrey Smile thanked the government for deploying three police officers in their village.
Mr Smile said while the residents appreciated that two nurses’ houses would be built through the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) they request that all internal roads be paved using interlocking bricks . ENDS