21 Nov 2017

Tutume Sub-district council chairperson councillor, Mr Ishmael Mokgethi says despite plea to contractors undertaking national projects in the district to follow proper labour laws in employment processes in the districts, already there is an outcry from the public regarding some irregularities.

Addressing a week long full sub-council meeting in Tutume recently, councillor Mokgethi said it was less than a month that he made the plea to the company undertaking the P280 million Tutume Infrastructure Development projects which was launched last month to follow labour laws and give preference to locals.

But despite that he has since received numerous complaints from the public that people are not employed at the company offices but at some arranged places where only those with connections in the company are hired.

Councillor Mokgethi said the District Commissioner’s office had been approached to engage the company to iron out the issues.

He further said such issues were the ones that led to delays in the progress of projects which the government was against since it resulted in unnecessary cost overrun.

He nonetheless commended the public for having taken the necessary steps to inform the relevant authorities in order to deal with the issue swiftly.

In addition, the sub council chairperson noted that it was also disheartening that the same situation was being experienced at the P74 million Maitengwe police project which was also launched last month.

He therefore implored fellow councilors as part of leadership in the district to help in addressing the issues.

On other issues, councillor Mokgethi said some constituency fund projects were progressing well, citing the Dagwi and Matobo expansion of electrification grid having been completed. 

Those that are still on-going, monitoring was being intensified in order to ensure timely completion, he said.

Regarding the Independent Electoral Commission office, which he said was far behind schedule, the Department of Building and Engineering Services had been approached to engage the contractors and get first-hand information on what could be causing delays. ENDS