22 Jun 2022

Working together and pulling in the same direction is crucial for the development of the district.

Motivating fellow councillors during the opening of the first full council session of the financial year 2022/23, Southern District Council (SDC) chairperson, Mr Thamiso Chabalala said failure to work as a team would be any entity’s undoing.

“Failure of one is failure of all,” he said, promising that now that he had been reinstated as the chairperson, he and his deputy would continue to serve with dignity, fairness, impartiality, diligence and commitment.

The chairperson said in an effort to improve service delivery, the council had decentralised some services as demonstrated by the provision of office space and staff accommodation at identified service centres.

“We shall, in future, strive to provide adequate manpower in these facilities so that they can realise their full potential,” he added.

Mr Chabalala announced that in order to intensify policing in the district, Botswana Police Service had established satellite police posts in areas such as Molapowabojang, Mmathethe and Moshana.

Such, he said, would help to reduce crime in the district.

He also said the council had embarked on the electrification of almost all the kgotla offices and that there was notable progress on maintenance of tribal offices, which he described as an eye sore due to their bad state.

“We have [also] embarked on infrastructure development, implementation of education initiatives and strategies geared towards improved access to basic education as a way of improving results in our schools, which is in line with Sustainable Development Goal number 4 - Access to Basic Education for all by 2036,” he added.

The numbers of the disadvantaged members of the community, he said, had been consistently increasing, particularly after the economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 scourge.

He said in order to address some of the challenges associated with destitution, the council would continue to implement different social safety net programmes such as the provision of decent housing, poverty eradication projects and employment creation initiatives to restore the dignity of the masses.

Mr Chabalala said that the district had enrolled a noticeable number of poverty eradication programme beneficiaries.

He was, however, concerned that there was very little to show under the initiative.

He further advised that in order to increase production, there was need to start providing opportunities for capacity- building for the beneficiaries through concerted efforts in addition to the role played by LEA.

“I still consider the Business Pitso as a very useful tool for capacity- building and enhancement of their competitiveness, therefore I would like us to revive this initiative,” he said.

The chairperson noted that most of the roads in the district were in a bad state and that the situation had been exacerbated by heavy rains, adding that in an endeavour to continue pleasant mobility in the roads, the district had developed a maintenance plan to address the situation.

Mr Chabalala said some projects such as Kanye-Mmathethe road had been earmarked for implementation in the current financial year, further indicating that youth small contractors had been engaged to patch potholes, undertake litter picking and grass cutting on major roads.

Regarding waste management, Mr Chabalala said there was need for a change in disposal methods by way of composting, separation and recycling, which formed part of the district waste management strategy. “These options can convert waste into asserts and can assist in generating employment and income,” he said. ENDS