27 May 2021

Meetings and project tours by national leaders are meant to forge synergies between government and local administration, says Vice President Slumber Tsogwane.

  He said they were also vehicles for keeping abreast with local government issues and projects.

 Mr Tsogwane said this during a visit to Tonota yesterday where he met  with the village leadership, toured construction site for 24 BHC houses, abattoir refurbishment project and Tonota Junior Secondary School which he gifted with masks, sanitizers and thermometers.

  He applauded Tonota Sub-district Council for carrying out projects that would advance its growth.

Turning to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Tsogwane stated that the economy was feeling the strain of having to adjust the budget to cushion Batswana from the impact of the disease citing the revision of 2020 budget to cater for the economic recovery plan.

With many income generating avenues negatively affected,  government was forced to draw from foreign reserves, he said.

He said the fight against COVID-19 remained government’s top priority to protect Batswana from the pandemic.

Mr Tsogwane noted that COVID-19 continued to escalate with many losing their lives and therefore implored Batswana to continue complying with regulations even after being vaccinated.

On other matters, the vice president called for the redoubling  of corruption fighting efforts warning that the economy, already struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, would tumble if the scourge escalated.

He said in efforts towards  building a knowledge-based economy, 203 villages and settlements would be connected to the Internet and 4G network.

Mr Tsogwane stressed the need to strengthen agriculture value chains to enable Batswana to become small business owners through processing farm produce.

Giving an update, the council’s principal economic planner, Mr Khumiso Higgins said  the sub-district had recorded a total of 1 365 COVID-19 cases since the outbreak with Tonota cluster accounting for 500 of them.

On water supply, he said some parts of Tonota West had not been reticulated resulting in Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) pipe network shortfall.

He explained that WUC was unable to connect water for customers in the area because of lack of reticulation network.

Mr Higgins said the abattoir project involved excavation of treatment septic tanks and demolition of existing lines at a cost of P2.3 million.

He said a P4 million emergency reinstatement of Motloutse River bridge project at Foley had been awarded but works had not commenced.

Mr Higgins said Tonota Sub-Land Board was experiencing shortage of residential plots, which had resulted in a huge waiting list.

The plan was to acquire ploughing fields for village expansion, he said.

Tonota MP, Mr Pono Moatlhodi said the land allocation waiting list had ballooned to 110 000 due to delays in acquiring farms.

He called on every citizen to take the COVID-19 vaccine when their turn came saying it was disheartening to see Batswana losing their lives to the pandemic.

Thanking government for making efforts to visit Batswana during the trying time of COVID-19, Tonota’s Kgosi Bokamoso Radipitse said it was imperative for the leadership to check on citizens to reassure them.

Kgosi Radipitse lamented that tribal leaders were unable to hold kgotla meetings due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The state of affairs could lead to societal moral decay because some people took advantage of the situation to drive evil agendas, he said. Ends