30 Jan 2020

Vandalism in primary schools, particularly those with boarding facilities such as Makongwa in Nata, is said to be a concern for Tutume Sub-district Council.

Briefing the leaderships which included dikgosi, village development committees and heads of departments for Nata/Gweta constituency recently, the sub-district’s assistant council secretary, Mr Uyapo Mafunye expressed concern at the extent of damages made on government property in the schools.

Mr Mafunye highlighted that hostels at the institutions were in a bad state due to damages caused by the learners. 

He noted that with the limited funds allocated for maintenance, they constantly carried out maintenance, however, they were repeatedly called for repairs even immediately after they had done it. 

Citing the situation at Makongwa, he pointed out that the learners even damaged the sewerage system. He further noted that the sub-council owed Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) P2 million in water bills at the school.

Mr Mafunye requested leadership to address the general public and parents to caution their children against damaging government property. 

Furthermore, he noted that the sub-council was in the process of reviving its meeting forum with school heads.

He said it had come to light that there was shortage of stationary in some schools, while some had piles of books, which they had requested, but did not use them.

He said they had started going around schools collecting such stationary and taking it to where it was needed. 

On other issues, Mr Mafunye noted with concern failure by the VDCs’ to hand over books to incoming committees.

He also stated that some members used committee funds for personal use by running money lending schemes for their own profits. 

In his welcoming remarks, Kgosi Letsogo Kgaswa appreciated the forum, saying it gave them an idea of the status of things in the constituency and the sub-district. 

He nonetheless complained that their area was not receiving developments fund from the council. 

He thus proposed that proper management of constituency community funds be done so that all the proposed projects could be completed for every financial year instead of continued backlog. Ends