27 Jun 2019

Residents of Legotlhwane and Sehithwa have been urged to be prepared to take advantage of the opening of the Khoemacau copper mine.

Addressing kgotla meetings in the area, Assistant Minister of Basic Education Mr Thato Kwerepe said although the mine was unable to hire many locals because it required experts, residents could still find a niche in supplying them with goods such as eggs, beef, bread, chicken and vegetables.

Mr Kwerepe, who is the area MP, said currently, the mine was importing vegetables from South Africa and being supplied with other goods from Maun.

He advised Legotlhwane and Sehithwa residents to start bakeries, horticultural projects and butcheries.

Mr Kwerepe appealed to residents to group themselves in order to take advantage of available opportunities at the mine.

He pointed out that residents once pinned their hopes on Bosetu mine which unfortunately shut down.

Mr Kwerepe expressed the belief that Khoemacau would be different.

He promised to finance the drilling and equipping of one borehole at Legotlhwane through constituency funding to address the issue of water shortage.

The assistant minister said although the country was faced with a high rate of youth unemployment, the Ngami area was lucky because it had a community trust funded to the tune of P4 million as it was believed it would create employment opportunities for locals.

He said it was disturbing that communities affiliated to the trust had been complaining about not benefitting from it and advised them to come up with a way forward.

On other issues, the assistant minister advised residents to sell their cattle while still in good condition to reduce the impact of the drought noting that the Botswana Meat Commission had increased prices.

Residents were told that they could do direct slaughter or send their cattle to quarantine before slaughter. Earlier, Kgosi Badiredi Ditsilepele had complained about elephants roaming the village saying they posed a danger to the community.

He expressed appreciation for the emphasis government placed on human/wildlife co-existence but stressed that elephants were terrorising residents.

One of the residents, Mr Obert Dikaelo complained that the community trust was not performing to expectations.

He alleged that although the trust was led by capable people, they had failed to account on the usage of the P4 million.

In response, Mr Kwerepe said government was in the process of addressing human/wildlife conflict and urged residents to be patient. ENDS