07 Feb 2018

Chairperson of the finance committee in the Kgalagadi District Council, Mr Kemmonye Makatane says for the financial year 2018/19, the district will operate with a recurrent budget of P212.2 million.

Giving a recurrent budget brief during a full council meeting recently, Cllr Makatane said initially they proposed P227.5 million, but it was reduced by seven per cent.

Mr Makatane said council had listed areas of priorities such as establishment of fire department, replacement of vehicles, maintenance of council facilities, and procurement of backup generator, payments of VDC and Ipelegeng beneficiaries through BotswanaPost as well as outsourcing of refuse collection.

Mr Makatane said items with huge budgets included P84.8 million for council employees, second largest share of the pie that catered for the relief of destitute persons to  the tune of P27.3 million for a total of 1 000 RADP beneficiaries and needy people for the provisions for food, baskets, private clothing, rentals, medical expenses, educational tours and gas refill.

Responding to the budget, Cllr Dinkimetse Mokwaleng proposed that council put measures in place to increase their revenue such as reduction in outsourcing services.

In support of revenue generation, Cllrs Ineelo Mokwaphe and Diteko Kotokwe proposed that the council had to look into areas such as bye law enforcement and matimela as areas that they could tap into to assist the council generate revenue.

For his part, Kgalagadi District Council chairperson, Cllr Justice Nkwane implored councillors to educate their constituents about the budget for them to make informed decisions regarding their desired development in the villages.

He also urged them to encourage electorate to take government assistance packages to uplift their lives to reduce destitution numbers in the district.

Meanwhile, the voting of the Kgalagadi District deputy chairperson was deferred as the opposition party members informed the House that such an agenda item was not communicated to them, resulting in the election being postponed until further notice.

The deputy chairperson position fell vacant after Cllr Phillipus Morerwa rendered his resignation letter in December for unknown reasons. ENDS