15 Sep 2019

Central District councillors have expressed displeasure at the over P74 million deficit incurred by the council.

They said the deficit had been going on for a while and it was high time that the mitigation measures were put in place to remedy the situation.

The councillors conveyed their concerns during their comments on the chairperson’s speech recently in Serowe.

Councillor Mothusi Sedimo of Sefhare said the deficits have been going high since 2014 and something has to be done.

He said when the deficit started the chairperson talked about coming up with saving strategies, but nothing was done. Mr Sedimo said the chairperson did not act accordingly to make sure that the saving strategies were implemented in full.

He wondered why the council was spending money where it was not supposed to be spent.

He said a typical example was where the council was still photocopying papers while they advised that speeches and other documents could be sent to them through their electronic mail.

Mr Sedimo said new technologies could reduce the expenditure.

He said that the CDC had to apply cost saving strategies.

He said CDC was big and had the capability to generate its own money.

On other issues, Mr Sedimo expressed gratitude towards the government for taking a decision to connect the Sefhare/ Ramokgonami constituency villages to North South Carrier pipeline.

He said they were informed at the Mahalapye Sub-council session that the project had been awarded to China States at an amount of P280 million.

Mr Sedimo said the project started in June and would take 30 months to complete.

He said that it is a welcome development because the residents were in dire need of water.

Nominated councilor for Sefhare/ Ramokgonami Mr Lenkokame Sesoa said there was a need for CDC to come up with strategies that could help to eradicate beef measles. Mr Sesoa was concerned that most of the dumping sites in the district were not looked after and cattle might consume human waste from such.

He also appealed to the government to review the Youth Development Fund.

He said the programme was good, but some of the guidelines might discourage the youth from applying for the fund.

Councillor for Maunatlala Ms Salome Lesole commended government for introducing the P10 million constituency development fund.

She said many villages including hers had been developed due to the development fund.

Ms Lesole also said through the fund, the construction of the storm water drainage system had already started in Maunatlala. ENDS