15 Sep 2020

Chobe district commissioner, Ms Sekgabo Makgosa has urged the newly elected ministers’ fraternal committee to play a meaningful role by assisting to raise a socially upright community.

Speaking at a capacity building workshop for the pastors on Monday, Ms Makgosa noted that the district was faced with socials ills that needed their intervention.

She said the challenges included commercial sex work, and abandonment of children by their parents dispossession of property, physical violence amongst couples and at schools, teenage pregnancies and passion killings as well as stigmatisation of people living with a disability .

Ms Makgosa appealed to the pastors to intervene, adding that ‘growing up seeing rejection raises an angry nation’.

The district AIDS coordinator, Mr Mompati Segare informed the new committee that as part of their roles, they would be expected to produce quarterly reports on how they intervened on issues of GBV, ARV adherence, its challenges and suggestions to the District Multi-Sectoral Committee (DMSAC).

District performance improvement coordinator, Ms Seele Chabata underscored the importance of effective communication among the committee members.

She said although the committee members were from different churches, they should have a common language in order to execute the mandate of the team.

Ms Chabata said the committee should be part of the solutions to the social ills faced by the community of Chobe and the nation at large and called on the members to apply their problem-solving skills.

An assistant district AIDS coordinator, Ms Mpho Mashila implored the pastors to play a vital role in advocating for the most vulnerable members of the community and support the government in ensuring adherence to HIV/AIDS treatment.

She encouraged them to fully participate during the September month of prayer and mobilise the Christian community to be increasingly responsive to the situation of HIV / AIDS in the country.

Ms Mashila noted that it was important for the committee to plan, organise activities to be carried out during the month of prayer, candlelight memorial, World AIDS day and the Month of Youth Against HIV/AIDS (MAYA).

As pastors, she said they should provide spiritual and psychological support to the frontline officers and the community, pray for the solution to the pandemic and support the district commissioner’s office and District Health Management Team (DHMT) when requested.

An additional member of the ministers’ fraternal, Pastor Pulo Thapelo thanked the government for finding it important to allow the pastors of different churches to play a role in the development of the nation.

Pastor Thapelo implored fellow committee members to work together in developing their churches and to avoid making the committee a church with one doctrine as members were from different churches with diverse doctrines.

The objectives of the workshop were to sensitise the new committee members of their roles, impart them with knowledge and skills of running the committee, sensitise them on existing government programmes and frameworks that they were expected to be part of and to encourage unity among the committee and the public service. ENDS