22 Mar 2022

Plans to establish Mogoditshane as a township are progressing well, Kweneng District Council chairperson Mr Motlhophi Leo has said. 

Addressing councillors at the opening of the first session of the ordinary full council meeting on Monday, Mr Leo said so far a task team assigned to guide the consultation process had already developed a concept. 

“As at the beginning of the current financial year, the task team consulted on the initiative, covering a number of structures, notably Mogoditshane/Thamaga sub-council forum, executive committee, strategic plan management committee and this very house, “he said. 

Furthermore, he explained that the task team held a plenary workshop with key stakeholders in February to gain further insight into the process of township establishment. 

The council chair clarified that it emerged at the said meeting that there was an ongoing process at the ministry of local government and rural development to restructure some councils as per provisions of Local Government Act of 2012. 

The work by the consultants was as such viewed as a step in the right direction, he said. He explained that in view of the consultations that had been made and the legislative requirements, the next course of action would be for the district to seek authority from the minister of local government and rural development to carry out community consultations. 

On other issues, the council chair informed councillors of the general decline of performance in schools in the district for the past three years. 

“Our district has not been spared,” he said in relation to declining national performance. He said a downward trend of 67.53 per cent in 2019 to 64.7 per cent in 2020 and 63.7 per cent in 2021 was observed in the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE). 

A similar trend was also observed for Junior Certificate (JC) where a pass rate of 34 per cent in 2019 was recorded followed by 31.6 per cent in 2020 and 30.8 per cent in 2021. 

As for Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE), he said the trend was similar as well. 

In 2019 senior schools in the district recorded a 25.9 per cent pass rate and 20.7 per cent in 2020 and 2021, he said. 

Mr Leo said shortage of teaching resources and classrooms, which worsened during COVID-19 as social distancing had to be observed were some of the reasons contributing to poor performance. 

The council chair however, noted that despite the decline in performance by schools, the region celebrated excellence by some students who attained merit in the JC examinations, Dithejwane Junior Secondary School leading the regional pack at 55.1 per cent pass rate. 

This placed it at position 18 out of 254 junior secondary schools in the country. He commended Mahupu Unified Secondary School for making it to position three of the best senior schools in the country. 

Commenting on the status of some projects in the district, Mr Leo mentioned that finally a contractor had been appointed to carry out intensive maintenance works to rehabilitate Thamaga-Molepolole road. 

The scope of the works, he said, entailed asphalt overlaying of 34km between Thamaga and Molepolole, six kilometres of Thamaga internal link roads and resealing of the 10km access road to Gakgatla village. 

He further revealed that the  over P49 million project was awarded to Felix Construction, a wholly citizen owned company.

He said the project was expected to take a year, beginning March 14 

Additionally, he said the tender for Gamononyane-Molepolole NSC II connection project was awarded to Zhentai to the tune of P895 million. The contractor was currently mobilising, he said. 

He explained that land expropriation consultations had already commenced and the project was expected to take 18 months. BOPA