22 Jan 2019

Acting President Mr Slumber Tsogwane has implored Boteti West community to share ideas and knowledge with the leadership on ways of enhancing development in the area.

Speaking during a community leadership workshop held in Rakops recently, Mr Tsogwane suggested that they embark on a project that could benefit all villages in the constituency.

He said such a project could be a school, hospital or rural administration center (RAC) saying the establishment of an RAC in Rakops could bring services closer to people in Boteti West.

Mr Tsogwane urged the attendants to agree and engage on collective planning with public officers and communities.

He also encouraged them to identify natural resources found in their area and see if they could not be used for generating income.

The acting president advised them to establish why trusts were failing to perform and get ideas from people well versed in operating them.

He said it was crucial to benefit from natural resources and trusts should be able to create job opportunities.

He implored them to promote cultural tourism noting that tourists were not attracted by wildlife only.

On the Makgadikgadi fence issue, Mr Tsogwane advised attendants to desist from politicising the issue.

For his part, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development Colonel Duke Masilo advised them to prioritise projects saying they should embark on projects that could make a significant impact in their villages.

Mr Stephen Ludick, a director in the same ministry, said constituency community projects (CCP) model of development was intended to promote community empowerment by strengthening the process by which citizens took the lead in initiating and proposing solutions to indigenous challenges.

The objective of CCP was to promote local economic development, employment creation, build capacity institutions like village development committees as well as improve communities access to public services, he said.

Mr Ludick stated that P570 million was disbursed to fund various projects across the country for the financial year 2017/2018.

The CCP expenditure for in Boteti West stood at over P6 million which he said was 69 per cent of the funds disbursed.

He indicated that for  the 2018/19 financial year, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development disbursed P5 million which was 50 per cent of 2018/19 planned projects.

The rest of the funds, he said would be disbursed immediately upon utilisation of the phase one funds.

On challenges experienced, Mr Ludick said they included delays in awarding projects by adjudication committee and appeals by bidders and change of projects scope at the implementation stage. ENDS