14 Nov 2022

Government has made a deliberate decision to take services closer to the people by upgrading some sub-districts to fully fledged districts, Minister of Local Government Mr Kgotla Autlwetse said during a kgotla meeting in Letlhakane recently.

He stated that services should be taken to the people and people should not be seen travelling distances to access them.

Mr Autlwetse noted that areas like Makalamabedi were located far for people to access services from Serowe and Letlhakane, that he said did not only impinge on the area Councillor who was compelled to attend council sessions in Serowe, but also impacted negatively on members of the community in Makalamabedi who also had to access council services in Serowe.

He indicated that, as a move to address the underlying challenges of delayed service delivery, seven sub-districts were upgraded to fully fledged districts in Central district and those were Tonota, Mahalapye, Tutume, Serowe, Boteti, Palapye and Bobirwa.

Boteti , he said had been declared a fully-fledged district with the objective to take services closer to the people, citing that Rakops should also be upgraded to a sub-district level to enhance service delivery in Boteti West.

He said the intention was to  cut expenses incurred on travelling and accommodation of officers and councillors, emphasising that travelling had to be reduced as meetings could be done virtually. Mr Autlwetse stated that twenty-two sub-districts across the country have been upgraded to fully- fledged districts and the idea was to start with eleven districts.

The plan he said was for councils to start operating as districts during the next council session in December, however, he noted there might be a delay, urging people to remain patient. 

The whole process of implementation he said required P63 million, upgrading sub-councils to council level.

He informed Boteti constituents that he still had to submit a request for establishment order in the next Parliament session, which would cover the number of councilors required for every district.

He stated that there was need to establish bye-laws for the districts, citing that the aim was to do away with any hindrances that may interfere with implementation process. The minister said a decision had been taken to upgrade human resources in place to avoid any drastic changes.

Landboards he said should also be upgraded to district level, adding that transformation to districts would also affect Bogosi, and since a district could not be run with a tribal secretary saying there should be a tribal administrator.

The area Member Parliament; also Assistant Minister of Health Mr Sethomo Letlatisitswe hailed President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi for commitment to ensuring that services were taken closer to the people.

Mr Lelatisitswe said people incurred a lot of expenses to access to services in Serowe. ends