20 Sep 2022

Poor maintenance of the border fence has made it easy for criminals from Zimbabwe to steal from Changate, a border village in Nkange constituency.

The sad state of affair, the residents argued, had turned their village into a safe haven for criminals; something they said needed to be attended to forthwith.

They said during a kgotla meeting addressed by Area Member of Parliament, Dr Never Tshabang on Monday September 19, that they losing their cattle to the criminals, who seemed to have taken advantage of the state of the fence to pursue cross-border crime

One of the residents, Mr Daniel Puso said residents’ valuables such as vehicles were also stolen.

Mr Puso told the meeting that the situation posed danger to farmers who could be attacked by criminals while tending their livestock.

He suggested that frequent patrols along the border could also be part of the solution to the problem.

Another resident, Ms Eliana Mokoka wanted to know when the promise to turn Nkange Junior Secondary School into a boarding facility would be fulfilled.

Further delays to transform the school, she warned, posed a lot of danger to students who walked over 10 kilometres to reach the school.

“We have had incidents in the past when some students were attacked by elephants on their way to school,” she said.

In his response, Dr Tshabang said the tender for Nkange school hostels had been cancelled.

He hastened to indicate, however,   that the funds that were allocated for the project remained intact and that the relevant departments dealing with the tendering process had asked for a period of six months to re-tender.

He has as a result called for residents to stay calm and allow for due process to take place.

The same, Dr Tshabang relayed,  goes for the 72-bed Tutume primary hospital project, which had also experienced hiccups at tendering stage. ENDS