13 Jun 2019

Member of Parliament for Jwaneng-Mabutsane has said that the technical college planned for Khakhea was a welcome development as it would help produce skilled manpower in the area.

Speaking at a kgotla meeting in Khakhea on June 11, Mr Shawn Ntlhaile said the college would also help boost the business prospects of the area, especially in the construction sector.

He also advised that the Village Development Committee be involved at all stages, especially in ensuring that the contractor employed locals, where possible.

“It’s important to convince the contractors to engage locals, especially in the unskilled manpower category.

There is no need to import labour when such could be provided by the locals,” he stressed.

Mr Ntlhaile also applauded the residents for their persistence in ensuring that the college was constructed as promised, looking at the fact that the college was long promised during former President, Dr Festus Mogae’s era.

He also informed residents that additional streetlights and gravelling of internal roads would be considered under the mid-term review.

He however said government had not planned for the maintenance of Molongwa junior school, but said that the requisition to maintain the school and build additional classrooms was before the relevant minister.

On other issues, Mr Ntlhaile also shared residents’ concern about lack of court clerks in some dikgotla around Khakhea, saying such a situation increased workload for the staff at Khakhea as they had to handle cases from those villages.

He was responding after the Village Development Committee secretary, Ms Milly Obonyweemang indicated that the court clerk for Khakhea was forced to cover other villages, which then stretched her.

She also complained about internal roads, saying they were too sandy and rendered moving around the village a challenge. She therefore called for them to be gravelled.

Meanwhile, Mr Ntlhaile said that issues of land were sensitive as they affected people’s daily lives.

Mr Ntlhaile also briefed the residents on some bills dealt with in the last parliamentary seating such as the review of the Stock Theft Act to make the penalties stiffer. BOPA