05 Sep 2017

Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi South, Mr Frans Van der Westhuizen has encouraged constituents to use funds allocated to their respective villages wisely.

Addressing constituents in their respective villages in a series of kgotla meetings in the constituency, Mr Van der Westhuizen told constituents that it was important that they invested in tangible things such as property.

As such, he said they could build Village Development Committee (VDC) guest houses and electrify them because that would benefit them for generations to come with less maintenance.  “This is important because you do not know when the money will be stopped hence it is important that you utilise it while it still lasts,” he said.

However, he expressed concern about low pass rates that schools in the area continued to register, hence the need to drill all stakeholders on the importance of education.

Mr Van der Westhuizen, also Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, also briefed constituents about some bills that were debated and passed at the last sitting of parliament such as the National Registration Act and what it required.

Earlier, VDC chairperson, Ms Eva Mosarwe had expressed concern about the high rates of school dropouts in their village.

Ms Mosarwe sais it was disheartening to see some parents allowing such things to happen, adding it was one of the things that contributed immensely to high levels of poverty in the area.

Residents also told their MP that lately they had been experiencing high levels of wildlife migration to the neighbouring South Africa, thus urged him to come up with a plan to stop that because the country was losing some species such as wildebeest and impala to ranch owners along the border.

Some suggested that authorities should consider erecting a fence that would prevent animals from crossing in large numbers as it was currently the case.  In response, Mr Van der Westhuizen said people should know that from time to time animals had a tendency of migrating from one place to another in search of good pastures. Nonetheless, he promised that he would engage the relevant minister and encourage him to address the residents  on the situation. Ends