20 Mar 2018

Member of Parliament for Mahalapye West, Mr Joseph Molefe has asked government to construct a stadium in Mahalapye.

Contributing to the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development budget proposal for the 2018/19 financial year on Thursday, the legislator complained that the village has no stadium despite many sporting activities taking place there every week.

“There is not even a mini stadium in Mahalapye, but there are many young people and a lot of tournaments played in the village,” he said.

He further asked the ministry to build office structures for the youth office in the village, which he said would cater for the entire Mahalapye Sub-District, and also asked for space for youth business incubators in his constituency.

The legislator also expressed concern about the long period the Youth Development Fund (YDF) took to approve proposals for business funding by young people. He said some proposals by youth in his constituency were only funded after waiting for two to three years.

Commenting on the budget proposal, MP for Gaborone Central, Dr Phenyo Butale said the ministry should coordinate its efforts to avoid having a plethora of programmes which does not converge. 

He said such plethora of programmes included the boot camp, Tirelo Sechaba, internship programme and others. “My question is how these are related to each other, for example if a child graduates from Tirelo Sechaba is there something which awaits them for further capacitation to ensure that they are not lost somewhere in the cracks,” he said.

Dr Butale also urged the ministry to prioritise employment creation for the youth, saying one way to achieve that was through harnessing the potential of the creative industry which he said cuts across different sectors.

Specially Elected MP, Mr Mephato Reatile urged the minister to intervene in the issue, noting that the Botswana National Sports Commission refused to hand the Jwaneng Council Stadium to Debswana to take care of. He said the BNSC refusal to be assisted to keep the stadium in good condition was shocking since the sports mother body had not taken good care of the facility.

MP Tshenolo Mabeo of Thamaga- Kumakwane asked the ministry to install a lawn surface on the pitch at Thamaga Stadium. ENDS