24 Jul 2018

Mogoditshane/Thamaga Sub-district councillors have added a twist to how they conduct council meetings by coming up with issues of concern during the opening of the sub council’s meeting rather than dwelling on the chairperson’s speech all the time.

“We are going to approach our sub-council meeting differently as there will be no chairperson’s speech. Today, I do not want to lead you with issues forth from my speech, but I want to provide councillors with a chance to come up with issues of concern so that we discuss them,” said chairperson Mr Ofentse Mafoko in his remarks during the opening of the sub-council session on July 23.

He noted that councillors always had a lot of issues from their wards, hence the need for them to be given an opportunity to state them for discussions, after which the chairperson  would respond.

He explained that deliberations were not supposed to be a one way process, noting that, ‘the chairperson should not be the one giving updates and feedback all the time’.

For his part, Cllr Mafoko commended the President Mokgweetsi Masisi for his achievements during his first 100 days in office.

“The President continues to build our nation on a fundamental pillar of consultations and nurture democracy as well as promoting political tolerance in our country,” he said.

He said by engaging the media and holding press conferences, President Masisi was promoting freedom of speech among journalists.

The President had also resuscitated the all-party conference and invited all political party leaders for an open meeting at his office to discuss issues of national concern, a development which the sub-council chairperson appreciated with the hope that the engagements would continue.

Appraising councillors on issues of development, he noted that Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation would install 100 solar streetlights in the Kweneng District.

He said from the 100, the sub-district would get 60 solar streetlights.

Mmopane and Mmankgodi will each have 20 solar streetlights, Ledumadumane, Nkoyaphiri west, north, central and south will each have two while Mogoditshane north, central, east, central north and central south will get two streetlights each.

Giving an update on the Sub-district development report, district officer development Mr Abednico Mmereki expressed concern that the Department of Social Protection continued to incur a large number of unclaimed arrears due to some beneficiaries dishonouring the payment schedule.

He also noted that lack of communication following a change of method for Postcard to payment through National Registration Card (Omang) had resulted in beneficiaries now being tossed between Botswana Post Social Benefits offices to inquire about their allowances.

He also briefed the councillors on reluctance by some residents to register for refuse collection, noting that a total of 7 099 households had registered under the Mogoditshane/Thamaga Sub-district.

Mr Mmereki said the frequent breakdown of council refuse trucks and delay in awarding tenders to contractors had affected the level of refuse collection of residential waste, which was at 45 per cent.

“There is rampant indiscriminate littering leading to poor environmental cleanliness, lack of toilets and waste receptacles in some villages as well as abandoned and neglected structures, which act as unauthorised dumps,” he said.

On crop production, he said 8 000 hectares was targeted but 6 406.72 hectares was ploughed.

“Harvesting and threshing are on-going including the collection of production data. However, some farmers are reluctant to disclose production information,” he said.

Mr Mmereki also appraised the councillors on the state of schools in the sub-district, most of which he said were overpopulated.

He cited among them Nkoyaphiri Primary School, which is supposed to enrol 800 but its current enrolment was at 1 092 and Ledumadumane junior, which had enrolled 847 instead of 600.

He said a decline in learner performance had not spared all the schools in the regions as they were below the set target.

He, however said school heads were to account for the poor performance while the region would also strategise and prioritise school inspections.

As part of the efforts to promote local economic empowerment, he said 320 people were engaged to supply schools with eggs and vegetables to a tune of P1 060 120. ENDS