17 Feb 2020

The North-West district council chairperson, Mr Kebareeditse Ntsogotlho has called on the district leadership to monitor and supervise development projects.

Councillor Kebareeditse Ntsogotlho said this when opening a special full council meeting on in Maun recently.

He stated that the leadership was duty-bound to maintain the confidence of the general public through prudential management of resources such as funds as well as strict adherence to laid-down procedures.

He complained about delays in projects implementation due to irregularities in tendering processes, something he said needed to be done away with without further delay.

Members of the community, he said, had suffered a great deal due to corrupt practices by some dishonest public servants.

“There is a need to handle financial obligations with the utmost care, transparency and accountability.

The delay to implement projects disadvantaged communities,” he said issuing a stern warning that this time around those caught on the wrong side of the law will face the music.

The Khwae/Mababe Councillor informed the special council that there was an ongoing investigation to nab some suspected unscrupulous officers believed to have connived with people who supply water in the village by causing severe water shortage so that the latter’s businesses blossom at the expense of community members.

He said already, the council had the lead and would engage relevant authorities to take appropriate steps once enough evidence had been gathered.

Meanwhile, the council chairman advised fellow councillors to ensure that they fully understood their mandate so that they could be efficient in the execution of their duties.

“We are not elected to waste time talking but we are here to transform the lives of our communities through the implementation of development projects and programmes,” he said.

He noted that although it may be the ambition and resolve of every councillor to transform their respective wards, budgetary constraints remained a challenge and as such councillors must bear this in mind.

Mr Ntsogotlho appreciated that the house had approved the recurrent budget for financial year 2020/21 and called for wise utilisation of funds, adding that it was the duty of the councillors to see to it that the community benefitted from it.

The budget, he said was meant to undertake council activities hence there was a need to invest in locals. He said procurement of goods and services should be done locally. He also implored supervisors to use funds allocated to their respective departments wisely.

In their comments councillors called on management to buy them gadgets which they said would help reduce paperwork.

Cllr Luke Motlaleselelo of Bojanala ward said a lot of money was spent on paper and believed that provision of electronic gadgets such as tablets would be ideal.

The council secretary, Mr Motlogelwa Thuso echoed the chairperson’s sentiments saying focusing on council mandate was key.

 On the issue of the provision of gadgets, Mr Thuso said the idea was not sustainable taking into consideration the number of councillors and that the exercise would cost the authority about P500 000.ENDs