06 Jul 2020

Francistown City Council (FCC) Clerk has thanked organisations that have stepped-up to help government by giving out hampers which were distributed to deserving members of the public during and after lockdown.

Mr Lopang Pule said this when presenting the city of Francistown COVID-19 report to the Vice-President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane in Francistown recently.

The gesture of goodwill by such organisations, according to Mr Pule complemented FCC efforts of providing food relief packages to deserving residents within the city.

A total of 17 981 households were assisted with food relief packages at a cost of over P22 million, he said.

Mr Pule informed the meeting that FCC monitoring teams had managed to assess 25 054 households with varying number of people per household ranging from one to 22.

He pointed that as per the local empowerment initiative, procurement of food stuffs was done from citizen owned local general dealers, wholesalers and that about 30 unemployed social workers were engaged.

He said the council had also engaged a total of 45 mini trucks belonging to some city dwellers to help deliver food packages to beneficiaries.

“Maintenance has been carried out in all schools within the city to ensure compliance to COVID-19 protocols,” he said.

The city clerk expressed concern about the rising number of illegal immigrants in Francistown as well as other offences including gender based violence and sexual assault.

The Mayor of the city of Francistown, Mr Godisang Radisigo commended government for the envisaged recovery plan, noting it would help revive the economic status of the city, which other than COVID-19 misfortune was reeling from the closure of mines.

He said COVID-19 called for the nation to rise up and inculcate the spirit of self-reliance.

Assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development and also Francistown East MP, Mr Buti Billy  also buttressed the need to revamp the city’s economy.

He thus stated the enactment of Citizen Economic Empowerment law as one of the many ways that could help expedite the revamping of the city.

Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi decried the 22 per cent hike of power tariffs by Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and called on the portfolio ministry to review the decision, saying it was weighing heavily on the general public.

Meanwhile, Mr Tsogwane also toured three schools namely; Francistown Senior, Setlalekgosi Junior Secondary School as well as Moremogolo Primary school to check on their COVID-19 protocols compliance. Ends