14 May 2017

A member of the Urban Development Committee (UDC) for Francistown City and a Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) principal anti-corruption officer, Ms Felicitas Hlabano has raised concern about the bad smell emanating from some city areas, saying it puts their health at risk.
Speaking at a UDC meeting recently, she said the water that gets trapped in some trenches and ponds as well as the malfunctioning sewerage system produced a bad smell that exposed residents to possible diseases, especially children.

She said the water was also an eye sore as she had noticed that in some areas such as Donga, Monarch and Phase V, it attracted litter and algae which was unpleasant to see.
Commenting on the matter, Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) water works superintendent, Mr Dithemo Jonase, who is also a member of the committee, said most of the trenches were blocked by soil and litter, contributing to the water being trapped for a long time, hence producing the bad smell.

He encouraged the community to stop throwing waste in trenches as it piled up and blocked the trenches, adding that the other reason the blockages seemed to be frequent was because the city had outgrown the capacity of the pipelines.
Mr Jonase further said the high population growth contributed to the sewage drainage being poor, hence calling for the city authorities to come up with ideas to increase or build another sewage plant to accommodate the capacity of the city population.

On other issues, Francistown City Council (FCC) chief education secretary, Mr Dozi Botsie raised concern about substance abuse in the educational institutions around the city. He said it has affected the academic performance of students and called for the support of parents as teachers were doing their best to monitor the behaviour and attitude of students. ENDS