06 Aug 2017

Eradication of extreme poverty remains a priority and one of the major challenges, says Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Slumber Tsogwane.

Addressing residents of Otse on August 3, Mr Tsognwane explained that poverty continued to haunt many countries and Botswana was not an exception.

“The country is therefore working tirelessly to eradicate poverty as echoed by the national vision 2036 and the United Nations, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” he said.

Mr Tsogwane said there was need for citizens to start creating wealth, which begins with winning the battle against poverty.

He said the country had different poverty eradication programmes, which were geared towards improving livelihoods and noted that most of them were intended to ensure that the country attain food security.

“We cannot eradicate poverty if we do not have sufficient food,” she said.

However, he regretted that most of the programmes were not being fully utilised; hence failing to add much needed value to beneficiaries.

For instance, he said only seven poverty eradication projects out of the seventeen projects were operational in Otse.

Further, the minister pleaded with residents not to rely heavily on Ipelegeng, but rather take advantage of other existing programmes.

On other issues, Mr Tsogwane stressed the need to take care of the environment and added that his ministry would soon launch a monthly environmental clean-up campaign.

He said a clean environment was ideal for healthy living; hence he encouraged the community to keep their homes and surroundings clean.

South East District Council secretary, Mr Lebuile Israel told residents that the district had been given an additional 139 Ipelegeng slots.

However, he said the slots would be divided among Ramotswa, Otse, Taung and Mogobane, while Tlokweng had indicated that it already had enough posts.

South East District commissioner, Mr Ian Tema said the village scorecard initiative was introduced to allow the public to gauge services they receive from the public officers.

Mr Tema said the initiative was used to determine if the public was satisfied with the service it received. ENDS