12 Jan 2020

Member of Parliament for Jwaneng/Mabutsane, Mr Mephato Reatile says it is only appropriate that as the area MP, he gets to appreciate challenges and achievements of the constituency from the civil servants that serve the constituents on a daily basis, before he addressed kgotla meetings. 

Speaking during a briefing by heads of various government departments at Mabutsane recently, he indicated that such an appreciation of issues from people on the ground would help him give true feedback to the constituents. 

He said in that light, it was vital that heads of departments always be open and honest rather than being economic with the truth concerning challenges and shortcomings of their departments. 

“We do not want a situation where we are given a state of affairs by officers, only to realise when we get to the villages that it had been sugar-coated. 

This would put us in a corner and would be an embarrassment,” he said. 

Mr Reatile also stressed the need for teamwork between him and the area civil service as well as owning mistakes and short-comings as a collective for better service delivery. 

He said failure to work as a team would lead to the area failing. 

He also advised the civil servants that in their distribution of projects, they should be informed by their professional analysis rather than pressure from politicians. 

He said bowing to pressure would lead to projects being done where they were not needed, and ultimately ending up as white elephants. 

For her part, deputy district commissioner for Mabutsane, Ms Dintle Setlhotlhe indicated that one of the major challenges they had in the area was poor roads that often hampered service delivery, especially during the rainy season. 

She therefore urged Mr Reatile to lobby hard on the issue.

She also said that the other dire challenge in the area was water shortage, especially in Mahotshwane and Thankane, although she said the situation had improved a bit. 

“Mahotshwane was one of the hardest hit areas, but there is hope as about two boreholes have been drilled to water the village and they are still waiting to be equipped,” she said. 

Ms Setlhotlhe also indicated that Poverty Eradication projects in the area were going well, although she indicated that the projects were a bit slow in showing return on investment. 

She said that such was mainly due to factors such as lack of markets and the fact that most beneficiaries had absolutely no business skills, meaning that they had to be drilled first from scratch. During the briefing, it emerged that the area also had challenges such as poor loan recovery of Youth Development Fund and a high malnutrition rate, which stands at seven per cent against the national target of three per cent. 

Another burning issue was the alleged slow land allocation, especially at Lefhoko, where the councillor for Lefhoko/Tsonyane, Mr Vincent Bakgane indicated that it hindered the village from developing. 

Although the Mabutsane Sub-land Board officials indicated that the delay was due to the fact that pegs they placed after surveying were removed, which then meant that more funds were needed to repeat the exercise, Mr Bakgane was adamant that the answer was contrary to the one he got from the Ngwaketse Main Land Board officials under which Mabutsane Sub-land Board falls. 

It was resolved that officers from the main land-board would be invited to the kgotla meetings to better address the issue for the whole constituency. 

Mr Reatile starts his kgotla meetings today. Ends