20 Jun 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the economy, resulting in government halting some projects, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Sethabelo Modukanele has told residents of Shaikarawe settlement in Okavango.

Speaking at a recent meeting with settlement leadership, he said government’s priority was now on the safety of Batswana during the pandemic. 

He said a lot of funds, which were never budgeted for, were spent on COVID-19 food baskets during the country’s lockdown, hence some of the NDP 11 projects being halted. 

The minister therefore encouraged people to be patient with government, adding that projects would be delivered when time was right. 

Shaikarawe Village Development Committee chairperson, Mr Ronnie Mahindi, appealed for a clinic at the settlement because the current mobile clinic did not offer vital services.

He also said Shaikarawe satellite Primary School, which only offered classes from standard one to standard three, be upgraded because it was difficult for the children to cope at a boarding school in Nxaunxau.

Mr Mahindi said at such a young age, pupils felt comfortable staying with their parents than at a boarding school, adding that already there had been incidents of some who tried to walk back to their parents in Shaikarawe.

He suggested that some care takers at Nxaunxau Primary School should be people from Shaikarawe so that pupils could be comfortable around people they knew. Ends