12 Jun 2018

Specially elected councillor in Boteti West constituency, Mr Baobonye Loeto has raised a concern over saline water supplied to Mopipi residents. .

Mr Loeto said this recently during a council session held in Letlhakane, requesting an explanation as to if water supplied in Mopipi was safe for human consumption.

He said they had since been told that the southern water project was in the pipeline, but nothing was taking place to date.

Cllr Loeto noted that the water situation had aggravated the health condition of some of the residents, especially diabetic patients and those suffering from high blood pressure.

In response, Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) maintenance superintendent, Mr Mpateng Gojamang said the southern water cluster project would address the issue of water salinity at Mopipi as it included erection of a treatment plant.

Mr Gojamang said Boteti Southern water cluster project was an international project funded by World Bank, which he said was at Environmental Impact Assessment stage.

He said thorough inspection had to be done on each stage of the project due to its magnitude.

Meanwhile, Toromoja- Tsienyane East councillor Mr Cornelius Solomon complained that water tank lid at Mmadikola, which supplied Toromoja was damaged, complaining that people drink contaminated water.

In response, Mr Gojamang explained that Mmadikola tank was chlorinated during the period when the lid was damaged, but noted that it had been maintained as a matter of urgency.

On other issues, Councillor Elijah Motsamai of Xhumo/Mmadikola complained about  many illegal churches operating in Letlhakane.

He also requested for an explanation on the criteria applied when selecting youth development fund applicants.

In response, land board chairperson Mr Kelentse Mawaya said profiling of all squatters was being done to establish how they could be assisted.

Mr Mawaya said those churches had since been requested to evacuate, noting that they were planning to take another step which would be to evict them.

Senior programmes officer, Mr Kagiso Makoba said Boteti East and West were each allocated P2 million, which could only fund 20 young applicants, citing that part of the funding was also used for training applicants.

Mr Makoba said they divided applications in batches and selected projects that were more viable per batch. ENDS