26 Apr 2022

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Governance and Social Welfare has donated a buck to the Dikgaolwane family in Selebi Phikwe East.

The eight-member committee visited Dikgaolwane’s small stock project during their visit to Selebi Phikwe last year, on a mission to engage with service providers and beneficiaries of social welfare services to seek views, interventions and recommendations on how to better serve Batswana.

During the visit, the committee chairperson, Mr Sam Brooks pledged to donate a buck to the family after they requested for one to help improve their stock.

Handing over the donation to Ms Dorah Dikgaolwane at Selebi Phikwe East on Monday, Mr Brooks, who is also Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi South, said the buck would not only improve the flock, but would have offfspring in neighbouring flocks too.

He said the donation was also necessitated by the hard work and commitment shown by Dikgaolwane family on their project, which started in 2014, after receiving 11 goats under the poverty eradication programme.

He said the family managed to take care of the goats and increased their stock to 38, commending them for showing great potential, despite their advanced age.

Mr Brooks, who was accompanied by Member of Parliament for Takatokwane, Mr Friction Leuwe, urged Batswana to take ownership of the small stock initiative so that those who succeeded did not leave others behind, but shared prosperity.

He said Batswana should come together as a nation to fulfil the aspirations of Vision 2036 and the Re-set agenda, adding that government was working round the clock to secure a market for small stock.

Mr Brooks also thanked staff at the poverty eradication office and the council for their commitment and support to beneficiaries to ensure their projects did not collapse.

Receiving the donation, Ms Dikgaolwane thanked Mr Brooks and the entire committee for delivering on their promise and encouraged them to continue supporting small stock farmers.

She said the goats had been able to help sustain her family since 2014 and promised to take a good care of the buck as well as help others grow by also donating goats to them.

For his part, Member of Parliament for Selebi Phikwe East, Mr Kgoberego Nkawana thanked the committee for touching lives in his constituency, urging them to continue empowering Batswana to graduate from poverty.

He said despite the closure of the BCL mine, which was the backbone of the town’s economy, residents of Selebi Phikwe had been able to sustain themselves through agriculture.

He commended the Members of Parliament for being good leaders to the entire nation, adding, ‘blessed is the hand that gives than the hand that receives’. ENDS