25 Aug 2021

Chobe district council chairperson, Councillor Amos Mabuku has applauded Citizen Entrepreneurship Development Agency (CEDA) in Chobe for playing a role in alleviating the unemployment burden brought by COVID-19. 

Addressing the on-going full council meeting on Tuesday, he said during the previous financial year CEDA funded 60 businesses to over P85 million. 

He said an analysis of funded businesses indicated that there were 24 in the services sector, 32 agribusiness, two for manufacturing and property, creating a total of 154 jobs. “A further 29 informal businesses comprising services, agribusiness and manufacturing were funded under Mabogo Dinku to the tune of P180 397 while 239 services Letlhabile were funded to the tune of P813 556,” he said. 

Cllr Mabuku noted that the low uptake of Mabogo Dinku was worrisome and appealed to Chobe community to build synergy and apply for funding under the product. On the Poverty Eradication programme, he said it continued to perform below expectation and COVID-19 had exacerbated the situation.

 He said the government however, still supported the programme financially, in capacity building and psychosocially, and to date 42.5 per cent of the P1million that was disbursed to the district the previous financial year had been spent. Cllr Mabuku said monitoring had revealed there were some challenges of project management by beneficiaries such as poor record keeping.

 He said shortage of chicken feed in the district was a serious drawback because the one supplier in the area was unable to meet the demand, and movement restrictions had worsened the problem. As for the school feeding programme, he said slightly more than half of the P3million that was allocated for food commodities including agricultural products had been spent. 

He expressed concern at reports indicating non-conformity to rules by some suppliers of agricultural produce engaged service schools. “It has been realised that that some of the suppliers opt to buy when expected to supply but the expectation is that products supplied should directly be sourced from the supplier’s field or garden and when there is no stock one should stop supplying,” he said. 

Cllr Mabuku appealed to the suppliers to desist from those acts as they defeated the intended purpose of the programme. 

Regarding livestock farming, the chairperson called upon farmers in the Chobe West enclave to be on the lookout as an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) was confirmed in the Zambezi region of Namibia. He urged farmers to report stray animals in their kraals especially those suspected to be from neigbouring countries to Veterinary offices. ENDS