26 May 2022

Village development committees in Boteti have been challenged to invest in projects that will not only diversify the economy, but also reduce the import bill of food commodities.

Letlhakane and Damtshaa Mines senior manager, Mr Howard Kgwarae said on Monday during a Village Development Committee (VDC) members’ capacity building workshop in Letlhakane projects should create employment opportunities for communities as well as improve their socio-economic status.

Mr Kgwarae said Debswana endeavoured to create a legacy of prosperity and resilience among communities within which the mine operated and partner with other entities to improve lives through the Building Forever Strategy.

He said Debswana sought to deliver sustainable and meaningful developments, but that would not be possible without active support and involvement of such important stakeholders as village development committees.

From the P10 million approved by Debswana in 2022 under Corporate Social Investment programme, Mr Kgwarae said P550 000 would go towards capacitating village development committees in the Boteti Sub-district as important role players in initiating and coordinating village level developments as well as ensuring community participation in the formulation and implementation of village development plans.

He said it was, therefore, imperative that members be trained to capacitate them to function productively and efficiently.

For her part, chief social and community development officer, Ms Mpho Bogatsu implored village development committees to be accountable when implementing projects.

Ms Bogatsu urged them to represent the public by taking care of public funds and not misappropriate them.

She condemned the tendency to concentrate on building houses for rental and encouraged them to explore alternatives that could boost the economy.

Village development committees were also advised against focusing on supervising Ipelegeng projects as it was not their sole objective.

University of Botswana PhD student, Mr Clement Thogo, in his comments, observed that issues of funds embezzlement were common among village development committees due to poor bookkeeping.

Other challenges, he said, were political affiliation or party factionalism, self-serving individuals aspiring for political offices and village politics that derailed the mandate of village development committees. ENDS