17 Dec 2020

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Setlhabelo Modukanele had extolled Majwe Mining Joint Venture for playing an active role in the country’s socio-economic development.

Launching the 19 Mabutsane Sub-district villages and seven Jwaneng Township wards development competitions in Khonkhwa on December 15, Mr Modukanele said Majwe Mining Joint Venture was playing a leading role in ensuring improvement of the lives of Batswana that resided in the vicinity of the company’s operations thus he commended the company for the good gesture that they continued to extend to Batswana.

The company has partnered with Mabutsane Sub-district and Jwaneng Town Council to host the competitions which would be  in four categories of sustainable development or projects, good governance, environmental management and cultural heritage. 

The money that would be won by villages and wards would be ploughed back into developing the areas. 

Mr Modukanele said his ministry prided itself in such activities as the concept would ensure that villages were working their way up the ladder of economic growth to create better living standards for citizens and sustainable development for  the country.

The minister noted that interventions by Majwe Mining Joint Venture were in line with his ministry’s goal of eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity for all, adding that government had a long history of prioritising the standard of life of its people.

Furthermore, the minister shared that for any kind of development be it at Village Development Committee (VDC), Village Extension Team (VET) and Parents Teachers Association (PTA) level, the focus must be on the end result which is impacting on the lives of the people. 

He added that what the company was doing was local economic empowerment as the competitions created a platform for sharing of ideas and networking that would bring developments in their respective areas as well as help poor households to graduate into being economically independent.

He said the company was contributing to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals that seeks to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for everyone. The aim is for all countries to work together to ensure no one is left behind for a common course, he said.

Minister Modukanele said the competitions would be a model for benchmarking throughout the country.

Speaking at the same event the company’s representative Mr Shingani Bobeng said despite COVID-19, the country needed to move forward.

He shared that in conjunction with the community they looked around societies to empower them based on four vision 2036 pillars of; sustainable economic development, human and social development, sustainable environment, and governance, peace and security arguing a stronger economy could not be achieved without succeeding in all the four pillars.

Mr Bobeng said for development to take place there must be sound structures that would facilitate the course.

He thus challenged village development committees to come up with sustainable projects and good governance in which there must be accountability, transparency, responsibility and proper record keeping as well as environmental management.

For her part, Mabutsane sub-district VDC chairperson Ms Keagisitswe Mokgatle implored VDCs to work hard to bring developments in their respective areas.

She also emphasised record keeping as well as banking money using safe channels.

Ms Mokgatle also called on the committees to ensure clean environments as dirt was both health hazard and an eye sore.

She advised that waste should be effectively segregated into categories such as hazardous clinical waste, offensive waste, general waste and recyclables.

Ms Sheila Mlazie who is the umbrella chairperson for seven Jwaneng wards committee said they had an annual plan to bring about the needed development in their respective areas. ends