22 Jan 2023

Government has collaborated with Minergy Coal Mine to help refurbish internal roads in Medie village.

This was said by Member of Parliament for Lentsweletau/Mmopane, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja in a kgotla meeting she was addressed in Medie recently, after some residents had complained about the bad state of roads in their village.

“This has been hindering investors to come to this village. Refurbished roads will also lure tourists to the area. Developments always leave an engraved remarkable mark,” Ms Makwinja said, saying once completed, extreme dust on the roads would also drastically be reduced.

Further,  Ms Makwinja told residents that the mine would further engage in social community initiatives and have a relationship manager who would assist in developing the village together with the Village Development Committee (VDC).

The MP also said government would also develop rural areas, including Medie, under the National Transitional Development Plan.

She acknowledged other issues of concern in her constituency which included shortage of water and electricity connectivity.

Meanwhile, Ms Makwinja advised residents to form trusts in order to invest in value chain developments, saying they could engage in farming Moringa and Safflower crops, which she said were known to be nutritional and could sustain their daily livelihoods.

She also encouraged residents to have mindset change and be self-reliant and desist from solely depending on government.

Earlier, one Mr Merryweather Gideon had raised some challenges they were faced in the village, which included, among others, cracked houses, smoke and dust, which he said endangered their lives everyday.

“Dust caused by these trucks makes it difficult to perform our day to day duties freely in the village.

Since 2019 when the mine kick started we had expected it to bring developments in the village but that has never happened,” he said.

He had also pleaded with the mine to prioritise refurbishment of the internal roads of the village.

For his part, the VDC chairperson, Mr Lucky Serale pleaded with the MP to ask the Ministry of Health, to improve health services offered at the clinic, as well as increase the staff, saying “our health condition is in a critical state as most people in the village suffer from Tuberculosis allegedly caused dust from untarred roads caused by mine trucks.”

Mr Serale also indicated that travelling long distances to seek medical attention at Lentsweletau and Molepolole was also a challenge to them.

Furthermore, he said the water drainage system in the village was poor especially during rainy seasons and therefore should be upgraded.

Responding to residents’ grievances, the mine’s Safety Health and Environment manager, Mr Victor Senome said they had managed to buy new machinery to mitigate issues of dust caused by dump trucks.

He said they had also engaged the building control team and Geo-Science Institute to examine fissure causes.

“Even though we have succeeded in bringing in positive changes to the village, we are disadvantaged by some residents who steal diesel at the boreholes,” Mr Senome lamented. ENDS