19 Mar 2019

North East District Council chairperson, Ms Florah Mpetsane, has commended schools that did well in the 2018 examinations. 

Delivering a speech at the ongoing full council session in Masunga on March 18, she stated that the PSLE results for ABC in the district was 83.1 per cent with Mowana, Matenge and Vukwi obtaining a 100 percent pass rate.

She highlighted that the JC overall results for ABC pass rate improved to 50.61 per cent compared to 45.86 per cent in 2017. 

Councillor Mpetsane said in BGCSE, Masunga Senior Secondary School improved from position five to position three in the whole country with 36.02 per cent.

The chairperson thanked teachers for the good performance and further motivated schools that did not do well to work harder in order to achieve excellence. 

Councillor Mpetsane highlighted that in the on-going supplementary voter registration, 691 people registered with 262 in Tati East and 429 in Tati West.

Giving an update on the Masunga-Tshesebe road project, Ms Mpetsane said following the termination of Bash Carriers contract in September 2018, PPADB approved four shortlisted companies for restricted domestic bidding. 

Therefore, she said the awarding of the tender would be done in due course where the public would be notified on the winning contractor. 

Councillor Mpetsane stated that the North East District- Tutume Sub-district water supply scheme project construction phase would commence in June.

However, she indicated that inadequate infrastructure remained a challenge in the district highlighting that Ntimbale dam and associated treatment works was designed to supply 14 mega litres per day, which wasn’t the case. 

She said water from Ntimbale dam was not adequate to meet demand for NED as flow pressures are not adequate to reach some villages such as Senyawe, Jackalas 1, Tshesebe and Themashanga. 

The chairperson said existing water distribution infrastructure across villages was old and dilapidated resulting in persistent leakages adding that WUC was in the process of replacing badly leaking pipes and upgrading portions of the network.

She further stated that NED was one of the districts affected mostly by drought and poverty due to closure of mine and FMD and disturbance of wild animals. 

Councillor Mpetsane said NEDC had been allocated P18.3 million for the financial year 2019/20 which was an increase of P2.3 million funding compared to 2018/19 financial year. This she said was based on increase in Ipelegeng quota of 1763 to 2026.ENDS