19 Oct 2022

Residents of Mathangwane have been  advised to make a final choice between Tonota and Tutume which are earmarked for upgrading to full-fledged districts.

They were also told to submit their decision to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development as a matter of urgency.

The advice was given by Minister Kgotla Autlwetse Tuesday after it emerged that the villagers were still divided on  which district they preferred.

Some felt being under Tonota would speed up service delivery because the sub-district had only 12 villages compared to 32 for Tutume.

However, others felt the fewer villages under Tonota had not fared any better in terms of development and therefore preferred to remain under Tutume.

Regarding the anticipated full-fledged district’s name, residents said it should maintain Tutume for fear that renaming it might cause divisions.

Taking residents through implementation of the  decentralisation exercise, Mr Autlwetse said it would cost government P63 million to upgrade 22 sub-district councils into full- fledged entities.

He said the work would be done in two phases with upgrading of 11 sub-districts per phase.

The exercise included realignment of district  boundaries, which would involve survey and mapping of areas and ultimately their gazetting, explained Minister Autlwetse.

He said it was going to be cheaper to upgrade sub-districts which were currently operating in rural administration centres because the infrastructure was already in place.

Minister Autlwetse said in areas where a full-fledged district council and a subordinate structure operated from one place, such as Serowe, Molepolole and Kanye, resources would be moved to new establishments.

In the case of Nata, he said it  would continue operating as a service centre until funds had been secured to build offices.

Mr Autlwetse said upgrading of sub-district councils would help reduce red tape and improve service delivery.

He noted that poor service delivery  had been a source of many complaints.

Despite government having set up service standards and turn-around times, people were still not served properly, said Mr Autlwetse.

The minister said the new district councils would have their own budget and decisions taken by the council would be sent directly to the ministry. BOPA