22 Jul 2013

Monwane Village Development Committee (VDC) chairperson, Ms Gobonamang Maiswe has requested government to consider increasing the quota of Ipelegeng beneficiaries in her village.

In an interview, Ms Maiswe said most residents in her village, which is located off the Molepolole-Letlhakeng road, sustained their livelihood through farming.

He said because of low rainfalls experienced last ploughing season, most residents did not plough, hence the need to increase beneficiaries.

“Ours is a small village and there are not many job opportunities around. We rely mostly on ipelegeng and farming. Normally those who have not ploughed find temporary jobs such as weeding, but because of the poor season, most residents were rendered jobless,” she said.

On why residents did not utilise other government programmes, especially those meant for poverty eradication, she said such programmes were slow in reaching their village.

“This is the reason we depend mostly on Ipelegeng and we urge government to increase our quota from the current 45 to at least 60,” she said.

Ms Maiswe said normally when they hired for Ipelegeng, residents came flooding to try their luck and that they often turned away more than 100 hopefuls because of the limited number they were entitled to employ.

She also said the large number of those awaiting their chance also meant that those who had benefitted waited for about five months before they could be re-hired through the normal rotational system.

“Our wish is that the waiting period before one can be re-hired should be at least two months,” she said.

Ms Maiswe also complained about lack of electricity in her village, saying there are a number of youth in the village who are skilled in welding and fabrication, but that because of lack of electricity in the village, their skills have been rendered useless.

She said if their village was electrified, it could help reduce too much reliance on the Ipelegeng programme, especially by the youth as they could venture into other businesses.

Her sentiments were shared by the 83-year old Mr Otlaathusa Segwanti, a headman of arbitration in the village. “The most worrying factor is that we have long been promised that our village will be electrified and that funds for such are available, but up to today there is no response as to what causes the delay,” he said.

He said lack of electricity was hampering developments it the village, such as equipping the local primary school with computers for students. Another project which he said has long been promised is the tarring of the road that connects the village to the Letlhakeng-Molepolole road at Thebephatshwa junction, a distance of around 20 km.

He said residents of the village use the road frequently to access Molepolole where they do most of their shopping, but that because of lack of a proper road, no public transporter is willing to ply the route. Mr Segwanti however, was grateful that government increased the wages of Ipelegeng workers and their supervisors. ENDS