21 May 2019

Residents of Francistown South constituency have been urged to declare rental income to tax authorities.

The call was made by the area MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi when addressing residents during a consultative kgotla meeting on Monday.

The MP warned constituents that concealing the fact that they earned income through renting out their houses would ultimately catch up with them.

Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS), he highlighted, had a way of finding out even if they did not declare.

MP Mmolotsi explained that when tenants filed their annual tax returns, it was a requirement for them to indicate whether they stayed in their own homes or rented houses.

“Tenants register your names and plot numbers as you are their landlords hence there is no escaping the taxman. They also divulge the amount that they pay you monthly,” he added.

Ward development committee chairperson, Ms Ookeditse Mchumaeli decried the fact that residents were still dragging their feet when it came to attending kgotla meetings.

That, she noted, resulted in few people making decisions during meetings which did not reflect the views of the majority.

She also informed the MP that the kgotla shelter had been completed and was only awaiting electricity connection.

For his part, Phase 1V Customary Court president, Kgosi Segale Letshele encouraged parents to discipline their children and stop hiding behind the law.

He raised concern that some parents had abdicated their responsibility to guide their children into responsible citizens.

Responding to resident’s concerns about crime, Assistant Superintendent Samuel Masole of Kutlwano Police Station said parents were not monitoring their children’s whereabouts.

He said it resulted in them falling prey to peer pressure and engaging in criminal activities.

Mr Masole also told residents that the 999 police help line was abused by young people who engaged in prank calls.

“Out of 10 calls that the police receive at night, only two are genuine. Some of these prank calls are made from cellphones that parents buy for young children of school going age,” he highlighted.

Some pupils in the area, Mr Masole noted abused dagga sold by the elderly in the city.

He urged parents to monitor what their children bought with the money they gave them.

He said if the situation was not brought under control, Batswana would raise a generation that would end up in mental institutions because of drug abuse.

A resident, Mr Botshwarelo Modise pleaded with residents to attend crime prevention meetings.

He also criticised parents for going to bed without knowing the whereabouts of their children.

The children, he explained, loitered the streets at night. 

A parent, Mr Mchumaeli Learners pleaded with the police to use plain cloth officers and unmarked vehicles during their patrols if they wanted to win the war against crime. ENDS