05 May 2020

Jwaneng Town Council (JTC) Clerk, Mr Mozondick Moswete says the recent uproar from Jwaneng residents who were found ineligible for the COVID-19 Relief food basket after assessment was due to failure to fully explain to them the qualifying criteria.

Mr Moswete said in an interview, that initially social workers went house to house to assess, compiled a report and later gave feedback to people on whether they qualified or not.

“Unfortunately the feedback came at the same time when the food distribution was also rolling out, so most people were confused when they saw others being given packages while their households were skipped,” he said.

Mr Moswete said that they then had to call people individually to explain to them why they were not eligible.

“Henceforth, we encouraged our officers to give people feedback as soon as they finished assessing them because once a household is assessed, people get a legitimate expectation that they will be assisted, so it is important to quash that expectation as early as possible,” he said.

Mr Moswete said that other resident even came to his office seeking answers.

Meanwhile, Mr Moswete said that the council was expecting to complete maintenance of primary schools, which includes fitting hand washbasins before the schools re-opened.

He said that before the lockdown, they were already carrying out regular maintenance of the schools, but later following announcement of health requirements to improve facilities as a result of the corona-virus, they made a change to the bill of quantities for additional works.

“We have engaged three companies for the maintenance and I met them about two weeks back where we agreed that they should hand over the keys this coming Friday. We have been monitoring their work and we are confident that they will complete within the agreed time,” he said.

Mr Moswete said that for other additional works, they engaged the council’s maintenance crew and indicated that fumigation of public places was being done every fortnight as per the council’s plan.

He said that they had been fumigating schools, malls, government offices, bus rank and filling stations among others, and that they were confident that once lockdown ended, all the public places would be safe.

The Town Clerk also indicated that they were ready and willing to assist in nearby villages that fall within the Southern District such as Sese.

“We have very good working relations with the Southern District Council and because their area is quite broad, we are ready to assist them in villages such as Sese,” he said. ENDS