24 Feb 2022

In an effort to mitigate  human – wildlife conflict government is erecting an electric fence along the Makgadikgadi boundary.
  Commenting on the budget speech, Vice President Mr  Slumber Tsogwane, said human – wildlife conflict was one of the greatest challenges to communities in his constituency.
  However, he said Boteti West, government  constituents appreciated efforts made by government to address the challenge.
He said the constituency was squeezed between two wildlife management areas being the Makgadikgadi National Park and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), and as such they were constantly at loggerheads with wild animals.
He said previous efforts to control wildlife movement into community areas was hampered by the destruction to the fence. Mr Tsogwane appealed to government to consider a similar development in the CKGR boundary to deter movement of wild animals into the community area.
Concerning education, Mr Tsogwane applauded schools in his constituency for working hard to achieve good results despite facing some challenges.
Mr Tsogwane said the results for most schools in his constituency were not satisfactory.
He however commended Orapa Junior Secondary School for sustaining good performance over the years.
The Leader of the House indicated that Letlhakane Senior Secondary School has a challenge of the increasing number of students due to inadequate resources.He called on government to consider upgrading one of the junior schools to a secondary school to relieve Letlhakane Senior School of the creeping challenge.
In relation to exploring opportunities in the agriculture value chain, Mr Tsogwane commended efforts made by the Selebi Phikwe Economic Diversification Unit (SPEDU) in not only reviving and diversifying the economy of the town but also exploring the agriculture value chain to create employment.
He said the agro-processing plant was one of the visible developments.
He revealed that the challenges of the economy had never deterred government from focusing on its priorities and serving the nation. Therefore, he said government was financing national priorities, strategic objectives and the reset agenda.
Mr Tsogwane highlighted that it was necessary to alleviate fear on the society; relating to challenges that government might be currently experiencing.
He said government’s financial reserves were affected by the challenges of COVID-19 and he assured the nation that government was steadily recovering from its financial crisis.
Mr Tsogwane also appreciated  the support from Batswana during  COVID-19 pandemic.
Further, he hailed the nation for taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
Government, he said, had learnt some positive lessons from its response mechanisms to the pandemic, as it was currently interested in manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines.
Mr Tsogwane  said the country had observed that it was losing a lot of money through imports and therefore appealing to its people to produce goods locally, as the ban on imports had impacted negatively on the informal sector. Mr Tsogwane said as key drivers of the economy, the informal sector must utilise the opportunity to grow.
Additionally, he said developing the local economies would end the current trend of rural to urban migration with the hope of acquiring better livelihoods.
He said people must understand the value of life and utilise the valuable resource in the rural areas to create jobs. ENDS