06 Nov 2017

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Slumber Tsogwane says dikgosi will be empowered in order to deal with social ills.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting addressed by President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama in Bontleng this week, Minister Tsogwane explained that government was reviewing the Bogosi Act to give dikgosi powers.

He also told the meeting that the Department of Tribal Administration would increase the number of court bailiffs in Gaborone constituency customary courts in order to speed up the collection of money owed to government by defaulters.

Urban Customary Court president Kgosi Charles Koitsiwe had complained that close to P5 million remained uncollected because there were no customary court bailiff in all the customary courts in the area.

He had also complained about lack of staff accommodation saying most of the customary court employees commuted from outside Gaborone due to lack of accommodation in the city.

On a similar case, Kgosi Koitsiwe decried the limited number of offices which led to officers sharing office space; something which compromised the privacy of complainants reporting sensitive offences such as rape.

However, he thanked government for the Ipelegeng programme which he said was one of the sources of employment in the area.

Minister Tsogwane further told the residents that projects funded under the constituency fund were delayed due to circumstances  beyond control.

However, he explained that most of the projects were at tender stage and would  be ready for awarding by the end of November this year.

Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Prince Maele advised residents to use the SHAA Home improvement scheme in order to connect their homes to the sewage water systems.

He explained that government deliberately came up with a decision to stop the usage of pit latrines in cities in order to encourage people to connect to the sewage system. ENDS