23 Mar 2023

The upgrading of Tshesebe-Mosojane-Masunga road to bitumen standard is behind schedule.

Addressing the North East District Council meeting Monday, the newly elected council chairperson, Mr Kudzani Tobokwani said the progress of the road stood at 62 per cent against the planned 75 per cent.

He said the delay in the project was due to delays in the manufacturing and transportation of bridge bearings, rainfall disruption on pavement layers and culverts installation.

The chairperson, however, said the project came with a lot of benefits such as addressing the serious challenge of unemployment.

He told councillors through a virtual meeting that the project managed to employ 277 Batswana mostly youth from the North East District.

Regarding Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Councillor Tobokwani explained that the control of the disease was ongoing at Zone 6b (north of Bisoli veterinary gate) despite a few challenges.

The challenges that have been encountered during the exercise include loss of tags,  incomplete documentation and tick infestation on cattle.

Further, he told the council that the depopulation started on February 28 and it was estimated that close to 10 000 cattle would be slaughtered.

Also, the council learnt that the Ministry of Agriculture had opened an office at Tshesebe Police Station to provide farmers with services such as tag sale, and brand application.

The chairperson said that FMD had affected farmers psychologically and the council had been a key stakeholder by providing psychological support to affected farmers, their herdsmen, the business community and families.

“Presently, 669 farmers out of the targeted 812 translating to 82 per cent were offered psychological support,” he said.

Mr Tobokwani, who is also the councillor for Themeshanga also briefed councillors about the performance of schools in the region, saying the North East region scooped position one for both the Primary School Leaving Examination and Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education and position two in Junior Certificate Examination.

He, therefore, applauded the teachers and education officers for putting in a lot of hard work to turn results around.

He, however, said despite an impressive pass rate, the district was faced with the challenge of shortage of classrooms, adding that the situation was more pronounced in junior secondary schools.

“As a way of addressing the problem, the Ministry of Basic Education started a project to erect porta cabins at Thamani, Shanganani and Maruje junior schools,” he said adding that the exercise was expected to be complete by end of this month.

Regarding the language policy roll out, Mr Tobokwani said the programme was moving smoothly. ENDS