20 Oct 2020

Workers’ unions are duty bound to speak against poor service delivery and corrupt practices in government.

Speaking during a consultative meeting with workers’ unions in Molepolole on Monday, Member of Parliament for Molepolole North, Mr Oabile Regoeng, said although they had the responsibility to advocate for union members’ welfare, they as well have to guard against any form of unfair and corrupt practices in government.

“You need to act responsibly against diversion of resources and ensure that projects undertaken are of the required standard before payment could be disbursed,” he said.

The MP’s call was in reaction to concerns over the prevailing water situation in Molepolole and the poor quality of services offered to government.

He said although it was not peculiar to Molepolole, plans were underway to address the village’s water situation by connecting the Molepolole water project to the North South Carrier NSC2 pipeline, from Gamononyane water project.

The MP said the situation was worsened by dilapidated water supply infrastructure, leading to constant leakages that continued to thwart efforts for ease of supply.   

“Our hope is on the construction of the Gamononyane-Molepolole water pipeline anticipated to commence before end of the year,” said Mr Regoeng

Other issues discussed included the Molepolole Bus Terminal that was said to be underutilised, with some of the structures in a dilapidated state.

He encouraged public officers to take advantage of the recently revised transport law and venture into transport business, through joint ventures, lamenting that it was dominated by foreigners, while locals were mere customers and spectators.

He said the reason for engaging with the workers’ unions was to understand issues impacting their operations at local level and see how best they could be addressed before being dealt with at national level.

BOPEU’s Molepolole branch chairperson, Ms Lindi Morwaeng decried the prevailing water situation that continued to haunt residents of Molepolole, especially people around the Dithejwane area, including public officers.

“I have a problem with the fact that as central government employees, we are left on the lurch, without water provision, while our counterparts at the district council, have been catered for through water bowsers,” she remarked.

The other area of concern was separation of spouses through transfers, a situation that she said led to dysfunctional families and societal moral decay.

“It is important that transfers are made in good faith, to enable proper upbringing of children by both parents, and reducing gender based violence,” Morwaeng said.

The water problem issue was echoed by Ms Dineo Tlhobogang, also of BOPEU, who bemoaned the fact that despite Institute of Health Sciences being a facility of such a magnitude, it continued to experience unending water problems, without hope for it being rectified.

Ms Tlhobogang called on the MP to come up with a permanent intervention, as the facility was failing to serve the purpose for which it was intended, due to the water crisis that continued to haunt it.  

Meanwhile, Manual Workers’ Union chairperson, Mr Moeti Waeng called for refresher courses for government project supervisors, as the current undertakings were highly sophisticated and required highly skilled manpower.

Mr Sepane Koogotsitse bemoaned the rewarding of central government drivers with P75 00 for defensive driving, saying it was insignificant, looking at the high value of the vehicles some of them were entrusted with.

He further called for a review of the current arrangement, where government vehicles were not insured, as opposed to those for land boards and district councils.

Meanwhile,  Ms Pelontle Mompati called for action against taxi operators, who flout the rules and regulations governing their operations, blaming poor roads. ENDS