11 Mar 2018

Government will continue to address the problems of poverty and destitution through the existing programmes and projects that target vulnerable and less privileged members of the society.

This was said by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Slumber Tsogwane when giving a brief overview of his ministry’s progress regarding implementation of major initiatives carried out during the 2017/2018 financial year.

Mr Tsogwane told Parliament that as at December 2017, support in the form of cash allowances, food baskets, feeding schemes, shelter and clothing or uniform, was given to 213 053 beneficiaries.

These beneficiaries, he said composed of; 36 171 destitute persons, 33 306 needy students, 107 014 old age pensioners, 1 560 World War II veterans, 1 316 community home-based care patients, 6 045 people living with disabilities and 27 641 orphans.

The ministry, he said also continued to provide housing units to destitute persons, adding that as at December 2017, from a target of 1 025 destitute houses planned for the current financial year, 504 had been completed, 491 were at different stages of construction and 30 had not yet started due to land unavailability.

“The on-going houses are expected to be completed by end of March,” he added.

Ipelegeng programme, Minister Tsogwane said continued to address the plight of the poor through temporary employment relief, ‘thereby protecting vulnerable Batswana from adverse economic hardships.’

He also noted that village developments had also been undertaken through infrastructure construction, maintenance, environmental cleanliness and support to implementation of other ministry initiatives, such as crime prevention and special constables under the Botswana Police Service.

Since April 2017, the minister said a cumulative total of 515 196 beneficiaries had been engaged consisting of 353 968 females and 161 228 males, out of which 179 603 were youth.

Further, as of December 2017, Mr Tsogwane said of the 2 752 projects that were planned for implementation during 2017/2018 financial year, 313 projects had been completed, while the rest had been at different stages of implementation.

“Budgetary constraints have resulted in a reduction of the number of technical projects and have consequently forced the programme to primarily focus on purely labour projects. Remote Area Development Programme continues to be one of the ministry’s priority initiatives,” he added.

Implementation of the affirmative action framework for remote area communities, Mr Tsogwane said was also on track and had shown the desired results of improving the livelihoods and welfare of its targeted population.

As of December 2017, the minister said a cumulative number of 1 067 students were being sponsored at local universities and colleges, while a cumulative number of 1 929 and 365 formal and informal jobs were created, respectively by 292 economic empowerment projects.

To accelerate job creation in the rural areas, the minister said Rural Development Council (RDC), through its secretariat, continued to coordinate rural enterprise development initiatives.

Additionally, he said through the concerted efforts of RDC, Mogobane irrigation scheme, Zutshwa salt mine and National Agro Processing Plant in Selebi Phikwe projects were operational.

Further, he said new projects that were envisaged to accelerate job creation in the rural areas included construction of Tsabong Multi-species abattoir and Diphuduhudu Cultural Village, as well as resuscitation of Lubu Small Stock farm.

With regard to food relief, the minister said his ministry would continue to provide supplementary feeding in 755 primary schools, with an enrollment of 354 317 pupils and 966 health facilities, with a total of 297 775 beneficiaries.

In line with the revised menu of primary schools, Mr Tsogwane said during the 2018/2019 financial year, his ministry would procure agricultural produce such as eggs, fruits and vegetables for pupils.

In an effort to improve service delivery, the minister said his ministry was also embarking on phasing out four regional depots at Lobatse, Gaborone, Sebele, Palapye and Francistown in order to provide food distribution to primary schools and health facilities. Ends