15 Apr 2020

Kgatleng District Council has issued over 800 travel permits amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Council chairperson, Mr Daniel Molokwe said the travel permits had been their biggest challenge since restrictions were put in place on April 2.

“Bokaa, Malolwane, Malotwana, Mmathubudukwane and Sikwane are some of the villages experiencing a high number of people seeking travel permits, and most of the reasons advanced are not convincing,” he said.

The council chairperson also said he had received a report that banks were full, and that both major malls in Mochudi (Kgabo and Pilane malls) were packed with people.

“It is business as usual with them which we do not condone as the council leadership, but because they have acquired travel permits, what can we do?” he asked.

He, however, said in spite of this, the district was doing well in other aspects of keeping with President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s wishes.

Mr Molokwe said the council was busy with the maintenance of ablution infrastructure in schools.

“We have hired one cleaner per school to clean ablution resources and will also clean them hourly when schools resume,” he said.

He said they were also installing automatic dispensers of hand sanitizers in schools and dikgotla, adding that they were distributing soaps and ensuring people had the necessary tools to promote hygiene when accessing essential services.

He also said social workers were busy identifying people that have been hard hit by the lockdown.

“We have taken the decision that where we find that the situation is dire, we will disburse food items and whatever is essential immediately to those affected,” said Mr Molokwe.

 “The situation in some households is disturbing and very sad. So far, we have found a household with 35 occupants and there are more out there with many people who are struggling to put food on the table,” he said.

Mr Molokwe said would employ more social workers because they were overwhelmed.

“In Rasesa the last population census put their population at 4 800 people and it surely has increased yet they are serviced by one social worker. Bokaa is fast approaching 6 000 people and also has one social worker assessing them, it’s a lot,” he said.

Mr Molokwe also spoke about communication being haphazard.

“Right now I cannot tell you who and who will not be getting food rations. Most of the communication we are getting from government is not confirmed,” he said.

Mr Molokwe said it should be cleared concerning the issuance of travel permits. “Who should issue, who should obtain and who should not obtain travel permits because currently it seems everyone in government is issuing travel permits and anyone can acquire travel permits,” he said.

Speaking on their efforts at the district level, Mr Molokwe said they had a district response team made up of the district commissioner, council secretary, DHMT coordinator and the council chairperson amongst others to mitigate and facilitate efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We also have ward response teams,” he said.

He noted that they had a challenge of self-isolation, but that they had fixed that and put measures in place to ensure people self-isolate when they had to.

Mr Molokwe applauded various companies for having donated masks, water, hand sanitizers, soaps, gloves, food items and other resources to frontline staff.ends