22 Jul 2019

Gaborone North MP, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa, has moved a motion requesting government to supply potable water and sewerage facilities to Gaborone North residents.

Presenting the motion in Parliament on July 19, Mr Nkaigwa highlighted that it was worrying to see Gaborone North residents being deprived the rights to provision of basic necessities  like quality roads, potable  water and sewerage facilities.

He said despite being Gaborone’s growth area, Gaborone North lagged behind in terms of  developments and serviced land because it was regarded as a freehold land. He highlighted that the initial expectation was for farm owners to service the land before demarcation for sales something he said  never materialised.

He noted that government also through the Gaborone City Council approved housing  plans to be development in Gaborone North without services, which was against the city and town planning guidelines.

Therefore, Mr Nkaigwa called for government to treat Gaborone North as a special case  and provide the much needed basic services.  He noted that Gaborone North had a population of over 4 000 who all could not  afford to drill and equip borehole for water consumption as an alternative.

Since water is the basic necessity, Mr Nkaigwa pleaded with government to facilitate residents of Gaborone North with potable water and sewerage facilities in order to preserve the environment  and drive government efforts to eliminate the use of pit latrines  in the city.

With the continued efforts to lobby government to provide Gaborone North residents with basic necessities, Mr Nkaigwa stated that residents had formed developmental trust to raise the required capital of over P22 000 for individual water connectivity.

He therefore pleaded with government to had a coordinated infrastructure development plan for both water and sewerage in Gaborone North and establish a cost recovery model that would sustain government coffers.

Responding to the motion, Assistant Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Itumeleng Moipisi said government had  no plans to facilitate residents of Gaborone North to have portable water and sewage connections.

Mr Moipisi said it was the responsibility of the developer or resident to service freehold areas, such as Gaborone North, as government was only responsible for  servicing state land and tribal land.

He said the ministry had received similar request from other freehold areas, which were all consistently declined adding that there  was no budget provision to cover the associated costs, which at this stage were estimated to be over P560 million.

He said the ministry would be setting perilous precedence if there were to service Gaborone North as it would be a deviation from the normal way of handling such requests. ENDS