25 Jul 2019

Kgalagadi District Council (KDC) management recently went on a four-day retreat in Lobatse. The purpose of the retreat was to reflect on council’s performance in an endeavour to improve service delivery in the district.

The council secretary, Ms Baipelelang Photlokwe, explained that they used the retreat to discuss ways of improving productivity and performance, increasing working relations between council departments and developing a collective vision.

Ms Photlokwe said they had the opportunity to review the organisation’s performance and ask themselves critical questions of where they wanted to take the council.  

She said though there were some challenges, the council did well in terms of project implementation and provision of services in the past financial years.

“We completed our Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) projects on time. With ESP 1 we carried out four infrastructure projects that included construction of customary court offices at Straizendam and Zutshwa villages, and backlog eradication projects in primary schools in Bokspits and Lokgwabe,” she said.

Ms Photlokwe said they also did well with ESP 2 projects, which were backlog eradication at Mahusane, Mhake and Khawa primary schools that entailed construction of classrooms, toilet blocks and teachers’ accommodation at the schools.

“We also carried out maintenance at Bokspits, Kang and Hunghukwe schools. As I speak now those projects have been completed and are on defects liability period,” she said.

The council secretary added that they had an ongoing major project  for infrastructure development in Kang, which entails construction of 22 kilometres of tarred road and 40 kilometres of street lighting and associated drainage works.

“Even on that one we have progressed well. Our last progress detail was 81 per cent against 84 per cent planned, which means it was only a few weeks behind schedule.

We are working on completing it,” she said.

She added that the council was also doing well on social welfare programmes as they always reached their target. These include programmes for poverty eradication, destitute persons, orphans and needy students.

However, Ms Photlokwe, said the council sometimes faced challenges of reaching out to communities due to absence of good linking roads and the vast terrain of the district.  

“There are no gravel roads in some areas, particularly in Kgalagadi North, and that is where we have some settlements, which are difficult to access. The terrain, vastness and harsh environmental conditions, shortage of staff and budget are serious challenges,” she said. ENDS