20 Dec 2022

 Nata needs an additional primary school to accommodate the upward swing of the village’s population as well as to ease congestion at the two existing primary schools.

At a kgotla meeting addressed by the assistant minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Sethabelo Modukanele on Monday, chairperson of Nata Village Development Committee (VDC) Ms Goitseone Dick said the two primary schools were grappling with large class sizes, hence their request for a third school.

Ms Dick attributed the high numbers of learners to the rapid growth of the village’s population.

She said at the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, both schools struggled to uphold the protocols that had been put in place to contain the disease, adding that the situation had revived and heightened their calls for another primary school, a whish she said government had acceded to.

She pointed out that one of the current primary schools, Makongwa was a boarding facility whose catchment area included Nata and nearby settlements of Tshwaane and Malelejwe, hence the numbers at the school were high.

On a different matter, Ms Dick requested that the vacant deputy district commissioner position in Nata be filled to allow residents of Nata and neighbouring villages to enjoy easier access to services.

She said having such an officer in their village had improved service delivery as people in the catchment area no longer needed to seek services from Tutume, which was a considerable distance away from their respective villages.

Addressing the residents, the assistant minister assured them that government was aware of their need for another school and explained that the project, together with many others that were lagging behind, would be undertaken in due course. 

Mr Modukanele said the Transitional Development Plan that government had adopted would help bridge the gap in the development process.

The assistant minister told the residents that the plan would be executed over a two-year period from April 2023 to March 2025 and would see development projects that had been left behind for some time getting implemented.

He said those whose implementation would not be undertaken under the plan due to budgetary constraints would be considered for implementation through Public Private Partnerships.

In addition, Mr Modukanele said projects that would not make it into the list for implementation through either the transitional plan or the PPP method would go into the National Development Plan (NDP) 12. ENDS