20 Aug 2019

The four prospective parliamentary candidates vying for Jwaneng/ Mabutsane constituency, have identified employment creation, access to land, and water supply, as critical issues they would address if elected in October.

The four men, Mr Tsietsi Oodira-Kwenje of the Alliance for Progressives (AP) ,incumbent Mr Shawn Ntlhaile of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Mr Mephato Reatile of Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), as well as independent candidate Mr Alexander Heii, expressed the sentiments during a constituency debate in Jwaneng on August 19. 

Mr Oodira-Kwenje said access to serviced land, especially in Jwaneng, would be his major focus. He explained that many people within the constituency migrate to Jwaneng in search of economic opportunities and therefore need land for residence, business and civic purposes.

“Another thing is that in the Jwaneng/ Mabutsane constituency we are experiencing high unemployment rate, especially among the youth. It is something I would focus on, the creation of employment,” said Mr Oodira-Kwenje, stating that employment creation was high priority in the manifesto of AP.

Mr Oodira-Kwenje added that he would also work on fighting poverty which was rampant in the constituency. He said poverty was intensified by lack of access to some basic services by some rural communities in the constituency. He said in urban areas like Jwaneng, the poverty was exacerbated by lack of access to land.  

The AP candidate further said he would advocate for better policies for the informal sector, and also advocate for Jwaneng Technical College to focus on teaching mining courses. 

He also cited shortage of water as a major challenge he would tackle. “In this constituency there is a serious problem of lack of water,” he explained. Mr Ntlhaile, who represented the constituency from 2014 to 2019 as its Member of Parliament said the country’s economy regressed and resulted in high numbers of unemployed people under the rule of BDP. He said therefore it was time for Batswana to change government and vote UDC to state power.

 “UDC promises to create more jobs in this country if it attains power. Majority of Batswana are young people who have no employment, and we promise to create 100, 000 jobs,” he said.

He said UDC would transform Ipelegeng Programme to ‘Public Works Programme’, with employees under the programme earning the P3,000 minimum wage envisaged by the party.

“In Jwaneng/ Mabutsane constituency there are a number of challenges I would focus on. These are lack of water in the constituency, lack of jobs, lack of electricity and other services,” he said.

He said he would advocate for creation of a sub-district in the constituency to bring services closer to the people. Mr Ntlhaile further said he would advocate for the sub-land board in the area to be turned into a full land board independent from Ngwaketse Land Board to addresses access to land in the constituency.

“This constituency has many land issues which must be resolved,” he said.  Mr Reatile urged the constituency to vote him so that he continues the BDP policies that have turned Botswana into a middle income economy. He said BDP plans to use resources such as land to transform the country into high income economy. He further said government has decided to remove all red tape hindering the informal sector and small enterprises from prospering. He said this was done to make the economy competitive.

Mr Heii said he would address the high unemployment problem and property rental in the Jwaneng/ Mabutsane constituency. He said he would advocate for law which regulates property prices in the country. Mr Heii further said he would fight hard for improvement of sewerage system in Jwaneng. ENDS