15 May 2018

Assistant minister of Basic Education, Mr Thato Kwerepe has expressed displeasure at the delay by Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) to repair the purifying plant that supplies Nokaneng village with portable water.

It was reported that the corporation awarded a tender for a company to attend to the plant in February this year and to date, nothing has been done.

Mr Kwerepe expressed his displeasure in an interview with BOPA, noting it was almost a month without water in the village something which had impacted negatively on the livelihoods of the villagers, adding that the village was being supplied by a bowser, once a week.

He said water was an essential element of life and wished the situation could be addressed urgently.

The assistant minister said he learnt about the challenge while on his routine visit to Nokaneng Primary School to check if the issues raised in his last meeting had been addressed.

Mr Kwerepe, who is also MP for Ngami Constituency, explained that the issue of water shortage was raised during his last meeting and WUC promised to address the situation.

“I was disappointed to learn that the school is still experiencing the same problem. I was informed that the corporation long engaged a company to maintain the plant but there is nothing done up to date,” he added.

He wondered why WUC took long to act if the company engaged was not delivering, stating that they could have cancelled the tender and awarded it to another company as the situation needed urgent attention.

The school was said to be operating without water since last term and yet it uses water system toilets.

The assistant minister said the situation was worrisome as there had been no activities such as feeding of pupils, teaching and learning, adding that the school management also found it difficult to monitor pupils and teachers.

Mr Kwerepe revealed that there was a possibility that the school might be temporarily closed after consultations with relevant authorities including the Minister of Basic Education as the situation was not healthy for both learners and teachers.

He said the situation may seriously impact negatively on the school performance if not addressed.

Mr Kwerepe raised a concern that schools in his constituency had been performing badly hence the need to attend to issues of concern on time.

The school, he said had its own programme and “this is the second week after opening of schools and there is nothing going on.

So I believe temporary closure of the school would be ideal to rectify the situation,” he added. Ends