27 Sep 2022

 Lobatse residents have been urged to pay rates on time to enable the council to raise revenue for efficient service provision.

The request came from Lobatse mayor, Mr Mosimanegape Dithebe when addressing a full council meeting on Monday. Mr Dithebe said that Lobatse Town Council (LTC) needed more funds to meet service delivery demands, after getting only P123 390 090 annual subvention for the 2022/23 financial year from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

To increase its revenue, Mr Dithebe said the council targeted to collect P20 700 140 during  the current financial year. He however, said the council collected just P3 862 021 by the end of August.

“The low collection is mainly attributed to our community not paying rates. I am therefore, urging you honourable councillors to encourage our electorates during our ward meetings to come forth and pay their dues as this revenue helps us to balance our budget and to continue serving the community,” said the mayor.

Mr Dithebe said that the council had already spent a total of P62 787 335 of the P123 390 090 funds by the end of August, with some votes already over-spent.

“This has negatively impacted on service delivery and I humbly request stakeholder’s collaboration so that together we take this council to greater heights,” he said.

Mr Dithebe also expressed satisfaction about progress of the strategy to support businesses in the town through procurement processes. He said local economic empowerment was one of the promises he made in his inaugural speech few months ago. He said LTC had used a total of P601 329 to date on micro procurement to procure from local suppliers out of a total procurement of P778 031.

On other issues, the mayor explained that there was improvement in refuse collection, after nearly two years of serious challenges to the collection of refuse in the town. 

Mr Dithebe said the improvement resulted from the engagement of small-scale refuse contractors by LTC. He said collection had improved from once a month to weekly in outsourced areas, and fortnightly in areas serviced by the council. 

He however said the council was still experiencing frequent breakdowns of service vehicles.

On crime situation in the town, Mr Dithebe said there was a general decrease in crime statistics in Lobatse.

“The town registered a decrease of 36 per cent crime rate on corporate offences as 53 cases were recorded against 83 cases recorded during the same quarter in 2021. 

A decrease was also recorded in most of the offences except store breaking and theft. 

As for offences against morality/person, 19 per cent decrease was recorded as 34 cases were reported as compared to 42 reported during the same quarter in 2021. Cases of murder and defilement have however increased whereas other cases like rape and threat to kill had a significant decrease,” said the mayor. ENDS