14 Oct 2019

Xaixai Tlhabologolo Community Trust chairperson, Mr Aron Salipito, is optimistic that the lifting of a hunting ban will resuscitate their trust.

He expressed this in an interview recently.   

He stated that with the lifting of the hunting ban, the trust would be able to generate more income.

“Since the government has decided to lift the hunting ban, we will now go back to our roots and generate more income to benefit the community as expected,” he added.

Currently, he said, the trust was not active as expected because there was no activity taking place due to lack of funds.

 Mr Salipito also stressed that the board of the trust was newly elected and needed to be capacitated on issues of good governance noting that they were planning to engage the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to assist them on that matter.

In addition, he said the board failed to develop an annual plan of activities because they had no budget to implement them.

In 2014, government assisted the trust through provision of facilities to empower it to implement tourism activities in and around Gcwhihaba National Monument.

The facilities included a gatehouse with ablution block constructed by Xai Xai community in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism through Ipelegeng programme.

There were also campsites built by Botswana Tourism Organisation, a borehole provided by De Wet Drilling while the concession boreholes were provided by United Nations Development Programme.

The facilities’ purpose was to enhance diversification of tourism products in Ngamiland.

Despite the efforts by the government to empower the trust, Mr Salipito said the trust management was still handicapped because they had not yet benefited to the maximum.

He said Gcwhihaba caves had been identified as the mainstay of tourism attraction in Xaixai but it was frustrating as people were not interested in visiting to explore the beauty of the area.

Meanwhile, Xaixai Village Development Committee (VDC) chairperson, Mr Amogelang Ditshuma, said developments in the village had come to a standstill because of inadequate budget.

He said the committee depended much on house rentals of which the tenants were struggling to pay their monthly dues. 

He said they were owed over P20 000 and managed to recover half of the money after serving the tenants with summons. Mr Ditshuma also revealed that they had plans to venture into income generating projects such as bricklaying noting that they had secured a plot but the challenge was water connection.

 Another project in the pipeline was a tuck shop and the chairperson reported that they had submitted all the required documents to the relevant authority and currently awaiting response.

The chairperson also expressed concern about lack of cooperation by villagers in taking part in community activities.

He said life was difficult in the village as most residents indulged in alcohol consumption despite government efforts to avail programmes aimed to improve their livelihoods.

The village is inhabited mostly by Basarwa and Baherero and Mr Ditshuma pointed out that most benefited from poverty eradication programme, unfortunately the projects collapsed except for the two bakeries which are operational.

 He said while beneficiaries were assisted with sewing, leather, backyard gardens, salons, small stock and poultry packages they all collapsed due to lack of commitment while some had loaned their equipment such as generators to some local bar owners.

He said efforts were made by leadership to motivate them to look after their projects but there was no change.  ENDS