14 Feb 2021

Goodhope-Mabule MP Mr Eric Molale has refuted claims that funds meant to fight against the coronavirus were misused.

Debating the 2021/22 National Budget, MP Molale said P1.3 billion was disbursed to the Industry Support Fund, P16 million used to support the creatives industry and his ministry, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development provided food baskets and used funds also to maintain primary schools across the country to make them COVID-19 compliant.

The minister therefore said it was not true that funds were misused as they were used for various activities aimed at combating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the country was faced with increasing number of COVID-19 positive cases and deaths as some people initially doubted that the disease existed.

MP Molale said despite the economic hardships the country was facing, the transformation agenda remained in place.

He said the decline in diamond revenues had left the government with an option of increasing Value Added Tax (VAT) and dismissed the reports that poor people were being hit hard as the threshold for income tax has been increased from P36 000 to P48 000, meaning people who earn a monthly salary of P4000 or less do not pay tax.

MP Molale said basic items have also been zero rated.

He also said the government through Local Empowerment Strategy was providing a market for local communities as they were able to sell their farm produce to schools.

However, he was concerned that people experienced red tape whenever they wanted to supply schools, saying they were waived from requirements such as tax clearance certificates.

Talking about the rightsizing of the public service, MP Molale said there were several ways of reducing the public sector, one of them being through the Early Exit Policy introduced in 2004.

Under the policy, any officer aged 45 years and above can opt for early retirement and they are provided with an attractive package which enables them to venture into various business activities.

Another was the freezing of vacant posts. MP Molale however said the government must strike a balance between rightsizing and meeting staff demands.

MP Molale said his constituency was faced with shortage of water but was happy that it will be connected to the North-South Water pipeline.

For his part, Palapye MP, Mr Onnetse Ramogapi called for more staff at Palapye Primary hospital saying it did not have enough nurses and doctors.

He further said the village did not have proper roads and storm water drainage system.  

MP Ramogapi congratulated teachers in his constituency for posting good academic results despite the difficult environment they worked under ranging from lack of stationery, shortage of classrooms.

He said some teachers had never been promoted for 30 years and faced inadequate accommodation.

The Palapye legislator also called for allocation residential plots even when minimal land servicing had been provided.

He further said he was disappointed that almost quarter of the population, 24.5 per cent, was unemployed.

MP Ramogapi called on government to take action against Avani where there have been reports of staff abuse.

He appreciated efforts from Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) but said their funds should be increased.

MP Ramogapi further said senior positions in parastatals should be filled on merit, adding he was against the rightsizing of public sector as it meant people would lose jobs.

MP Molebatsi Molebatsi of Mmadinare said he was happy the budget focused on results based budgeting and said it was high time the country also focused on results based management and root out underperforming public officers.

He said there should be packages for public officers who are retrenched through the rightsizing exercise.

MP Molebatsi welcomed the VAT increase and however said the government should ensure that storage handling levy was collected. Ends