23 Jan 2020

Community leaders have been urged to change their mindset and come up with ways to uplift the livelihoods of communities.

Ngami MP, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama advised leaders during a consultative meeting at Bodibeng and Botlhatlogo on Wednesday to work as a unit and strive to improve the lives of the community in order to reduce dependence on government assistance.

The objective of the meeting was to interact with the village leadership, appreciate challenges they faced and share ideas on how they could tackle the challenges going forward.

The MP advised them to work jointly in an effort to develop their villages, noting that all the village committees and public servants should collaborate with the village leadership to empower the community to be self-reliant.

The community, he said, could not be assisted by government forever, adding that the spirit of self-reliance prevailed in the past and that many communities managed to put up projects and lived dignified lives.

Mr Hikuama implored leaders to think outside the box and come up with initiatives or sustainable income generating projects, which the communities could venture into to earn a living.

He appreciated that Ngamiland District was poverty stricken and stressed the need to join forces as leaders to eradicate poverty within communities.

He said it was disturbing for the council to continue registering more needy people yearly despite various government interventions to reduce poverty.

As leaders, he said they had a mammoth task of reducing the numbers as they did not want their people to be destitute forever, adding that people should appreciate that giving food rations was a relief measure.

The MP pointed out that government should not be seen investing the bulk of the budget on the destitute programme, but the money should be channeled to implementation of development projects.

He also informed the meeting that he had met with councillors and implored them to deliver their mandate as expected. He said they should understand that their role as political leaders was to improve the lives of communities and ensure development projects implementation.

He said it was worrisome that some councillors failed their electorates after elections, as they only cared about protecting their salaries and campaigning for the next elections.ENDS