11 Jul 2019

Jwaneng deputy mayor has applauded Kgalagadi Ward Development Committee in Jwaneng for setting pace in its hands-on approach to assisting the community.

Ms Olga Ditsie said this when handing over an P8 000 worth of school uniform (tracksuits, shoes and socks) to 15 pupils from Kadue lands who were schooling at Kgalagadi Primary School in Jwaneng.

She said the committee had in the past stepped in to assist the community when need arose.

The committee recently held a fundraising dinner towards construction of a house for a needy member of the community.

This, Ms Ditsie said, was a good gesture and a way of reinventing the roles of ward and village development committees.

“Ward and village development committees should get more involved in assisting the communities that they serve and move away from the conventional way of only giving the status of the village report in kgotla meetings,” she said.

In doing so, she said the committee was demonstrating why it was entrusted with the leadership of the area.

She also encouraged the community to support the committee in order to continue serving them diligently.

Ms Ditsie also advised recipients to learn from the gesture that it was only humane to assist fellow humans and that they should work hard to emancipate their families from poverty in the future.

“An individual cannot change their past, but can very well change their future.

You cannot change the fact that you come from disadvantaged families, but through hard work in your studies, you can in future get a good job and assist your families have better lives,” she said.

She also pledged to buy all the 15 pupils school bags.

The town’s district officer, Ms Malebogo Basima, applauded the committee for its interest in the community they served, saying such was a good way of exercising their responsibility.

She said their commitment should be motivation for other ward committees in town as well as instilling a culture of giving within the community.

The committee’s chairperson, Ms Sheila Mlazie, on one hand said they found it appropriate to assist pupils after learning of their struggles while on a regular visit to the school.

“As a committee we often go around the ward, even in government offices to learn of their needs and it was on one such a visit that we learnt that pupils from Kadue do not have uniform, which was a challenge especially during winter,” she said.

Ms Mlazie also indicated that such was also a way of assisting government since it was burdened with assisting the needy.

She also said the committee would continue working with the school in future. ENDS