01 May 2020

The Southern District Council chief social and community development officer, Ms Kehumile Mabote says disparities in food ration distributed through the COVID-19 relief initiative were dictated by what the donors had given for a particular area.

In an interview with BOPA, Ms Mabote said the disparity in food packages to different homesteads would be inevitable given the circumstances.

"We are aware of the concerns raised by the beneficiaries about irregular allocation of food parcels to their homes. This matter has risen as food packages provided to households are not the same,” she said.

“Please bear in mind that we are reliant on what is being provided by the donors in addition to what is provided by the council. We are not in full control as we rely on other stakeholders,”she said.

On engagement of trucks for hire from the community towards assisting in distribution of foods to beneficiaries, she noted that the move was meant to empower those working in that sector.

She said so far about 315 have registered with Kanye Administrative Authority, 315 at Moshupa Sub-district Council and 154 at Mabutsane Sub-district Council.

Ms Mabote noted that there was no registrations at the Good Hope Sub-district Council.

She indicated that so far they had engaged 10 trucks for Moshupa, but eight had since declined the offer, citing unsatisfactory rates of payment.

Ms Mabote noted that her office was considering to review the rates based on the advice given by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

She noted that with regard to Kanye, as a way of cost saving, the council had resorted to engaging a pool of government trucks. Ends