10 Jun 2018

Boteti councillors have commended the national registration office for working round the clock to improve service delivery and for changing some of the regulations pertaining to registration and prossession of the national identity card.

Councillors expressed delight after being informed about the improvements and changes by the regional national registration officer, Mr Mosalagae Otlaadisa at the ongoing sub-council meeting in Letlhakane recently.

Mr Otlaadisa had informed the councillors that his office had decided to do away with charging minors for late registration or for providing inaccurate information concerning their identity cards.

He said the time frame for renewing identity cards had also been reviewed from 11 to six months, while vulnerable groups from rural settlements would be assisted for free.

He said the office had been provided with transport and other resources such as cameras.

He however, expressed concern that there were 1 673  uncollected identity cards and therefore requested councillors to help in encouraging residents to collect them.

Further, he told councillors that his office was faced with a challenge of deceased people appearing on their systems  as alive which lgave the Independent Electoral Commission wrong statistics.

Thus, he encouraged councillors to help them fight the challenge.

He requested them to urge their electorate to inform his office about deaths, so that they remove the deceased from the system.

Cllr for Letlhakane North, Mr Boitshwarelo Mopedi said the changes would come in handy to the residents as the charges caused people to be reluctant to register for identity cards.

He said they would not hesitate to work with the national registration office to ensure that relevant information and services reached the intended population.

However, he urged the office to plead with the ministry to consider opening another office at Rakops because the region was broad and highly populated.

Cllr for Mmatshumo, Mr Goabaone Bolesitswe applauded the national registration office for dropping charges of minors for providing inaccurate information or for late registration as well as free services  to vulnerable groups.

Cllr for Mmadikola/Xhumo, Mr Elijah Motsamai shared the sentiments with the national registration office, saying a daily newspaper recently carried a long list of those whose cards had expired, saying he knew some who had long passed away. ENDS