10 Jul 2017

 North West District Council chairperson, Mr Duncan Enga has vowed to fight unemployment amongst the youth and eradicate abject poverty during his tenure.

Addressing a full council session recently, he said his priority would be job creation for the youth through government programmes such as the Youth Development Fund (YDF) which would in help in poverty eradication. 

He noted that the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development had opened applications for the 2017/18 financial year. 

He said the district has been allocated P8 million in YDF, and that each sub-district would be allocated P4 million while the remaining P400 000 would be reserved for addressing the training backlog. 

Mr Enga noted that some challenges faced by the youth were high rentals, and appealed to councillors to assist and negotiate for low rentals for youth projects. He also encouraged beneficiaries to take their businesses seriously for the empowerment of others.

The council chairperson also vowed to improve the accessibility of children to schools, especially to those residing in hard to reach areas. He said many children in the periphery areas were living with their parents far from school accessible villages.

Furthermore, Mr Enga said in order to improve early childhood development, the council signed a partnership agreement with UNICEF. The objective of the partnership, he said, was to increase access to early childhood education in rural areas.  

He revealed that a capacity building workshop was held last month to discuss and induct play groups on the recently developed draft guidelines. 

Mr Enga appealed to councillors and civil servants to show commitment towards the realisation of the dream, saying that the primary objective of the council was to provide services effectively and timely to communities.

He emphasised team work, trust and respect on each other in order to improve the district further. Mr Enga also called for transparency and accountability in all spheres of operations.

On other issues, he updated councillors on some decisions made after the last session such as the purchasing of three vehicles which would assist in providing safe transport for school children. 

“This is a good initiative by the district so as to desist from transporting students in open trucks making them prone to accidents. It is worth noting that our district is the first one to procure these kinds of vehicles in the country,” he added.

Mr Enga also said the district would provide solar electricity in three primary schools of Kgosietsile at Mababe, Khweeosee at Somelo and Makakung during 2017/18 financial year. 

He said the pillar project would be to provide electricity and lighting in government facilities in rural areas where there was no national grid. ENDS