25 Aug 2021

Tonota Sub-district Council chairperson Mr Christjan Machokoto has said a total of 108 applications for Youth Development Fund loans were received for the current financial year. 

Addresing the sub-council virtually, he said with decline in economic growth, and unemployment still a concern in the country, youth were given an opportunity to get funding to better their lives and those of their families. 

He said the Ministry of Youth Empowerment Sports and Culture Development had since extended the initial closing date of submission of application to allow more applications. 

Mr Machokoto commended funded projects for employment creation and improved lives of many other young Batswana. “With regards to 339 funded projects, 519 jobs were created and this is very impressive and shows the relevance of taking advantage of this service,” he added. 

From those projects, he said, 287were operational while 52 were non-operational. He commended funded projects for timely payments of their loans. 

The improvements in payments, he said was encouraged by involvement and support of the sub district leadership. “We have been actively advising and encouraging the youth to re-pay their loans in order to keep such funding available for more citizens to benefit from,” he added. 

He said the fund had so far collected P51 996 against P127 197, which was 41percent of the target to be collected in the last 4 months. This he said showed that youth had now taken responsibility in servicing their loans. 

As the pandemic remains a life threat, Mr Machokoto commended health workers for taking on the extra work load and being committed to saving lives. 

He said a total of 5 536 peoplehad received the jab in the entire sub-district. He urged the public to go for vaccinations as vaccines became available ENDS