30 Nov 2020

The general manager of Debswana Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtsha mines, Mr Bakani Motlhabani has encouraged the church and other stakeholders to work hand in hand with the local community concerning development.

Mr Motlhabani said this at the opening of a two-day workshop on the 2020 Botswana Alternative Mining Indaba Faith Leaders for Social Justice hosted by Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) in Letlhakane recently.

He explained that the role of BCC in education and health could not go unnoticed, particularly in mission schools and hospitals that had been running since independence. 

Mr Motlhabani noted that he had no doubt that Batswana would bask in the blessing of development and partnership with the church. 

He also commended the church leaders for not only limiting themselves to the pulpit, but also creating a platform for social issues.

The role of mining companies, he said, aimed to protect the natural world, by working to minimise the impact of their operation by investing significantly to find a balance between economic growth and long term sustainability. 

The alternative mining indaba should provide an opportunity for the church to fully examine its impact on the people today, he added.

He said while the conventional way of the church was conducting service day for worship, other programmes such as alternative mining could be developed to foster independence of people and enhance community participation. 

He also said to archive that BCC needed to widen its partnership and collaboration for the purpose of touching lives, adding that the church was instrumental in the historic development of the country. 

The president of BCC, Bishop Metlhayotlhe Beleme said the council was registered on May 21, 1965 and would continue to take its rightful place in the socio-development agenda of the country. 

Bishop Beleme said since the BCC had been working on socio-economic justice issues, they continued to identify with that on broad based national issues.  

He said they remained stakeholders in the education and health sector, hence to date mission schools and hospitals continued to function.  

He pointed out that their involvement and interest as BCC was to provide checks and balances on government commitment. ends