08 May 2017

Member of Parliament for Takatokwane constituency, Mr Ngaka Ngaka has informed residents of Dutlwe that the constituency fund will not be divided equally among the villages in the constituency, but prioritised according to need.

Speaking in a kgotla meeting at the village on Friday, Mr Ngaka said dividing the funds equally would not be beneficial to the constituency as each village would receive a meager sum that would not be able to carry out any sizable project.

“We have already listed projects around the constituency that each village wishes to carry out, and from them we will prioritise to see which projects can be carried out first. Our intention is that in three years each village should have been covered and the cycle will start over,” he said.

Mr Ngaka said some of the projects that most villages had indicated as a need for them includeded accommodation for civil servants.

He said the objective of the constituency fund was to cater for projects that had not been covered under either the National Development Plan 11 or the Economic Stimulus Programme.

In other issues, Mr Ngaka implored the youth to make an effort to uplift their lives rather than point a finger at the government.

He applauded the good working relations between civil servants and the community in the village, but said he was concerned at the high number of youth who were engaged in Ipelegeng.

He said because of the many government programmes meant to emancipate people from poverty, the number of people engaged in Ipelegeng should reduce.

Mr Ngaka was responding to the chairperson of the Village Development Committee, Ms Kebobeile Lekgowe, who had said good working relations between civil servants in the village and the community led to smooth service delivery.

She also appreciated various programmes such as Ipelegeng and ISPAAD as well as the promised satellite police post.

However, Ms Lekgowe complained about some projects that the village had long requested such as the kgotla office as well as four BHC houses. She noted that the houses had been under construction since 2014, but had not yet been completed.

Ms Lekgowe also complained about the high number of youth engaged in the Ipelegeng programme, saying most of them were educated.

Mr Ngaka also appraised residents on bills discussed in the last sitting of Parliament such as the amendment of the Electoral Act as well as the retirement package of former heads of state.

One of the residents, Mr Banki Mochanang said although he agreed with most of the issues, his complaint was that there was top-to bottom consultation rather than vise versa.

Letlhakeng Sub-district chairperson, Mr Tlotlo Batlhophi also informed residents that Kweneng District Council had taken a decision to procure a vacuum tanker to drain all toilets in the council’s buildings as Water Utilities Corporation was still struggling.

He said it would address the long standing issue of toilets at Dutlwe Primary School which had long been reported full, forcing pupils to use the surroundings.

Still at Dutlwe, Mr Ngaka held a meeting with the youth to discuss issues that affected them. At the meeting, senior programmes officer, Ms Oakantse Matjologwe urged those who applied for the Youth Development Fund to exercise patience as their applications would be responded to with availability of funds.

She advised them that they should prepare their proposals, and register their companies while awaiting the opening of applications for the current financial year. BOPA