21 Nov 2013

Assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Vincent Seretse, has called on residents of Kweneng village to support the cluster garden project and produce results.

The garden was donated by Kweneng District Council in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture. Speaking during the launch of the garden on recently, Mr Seretse commended the Kweneng District Council for coming up with the initiative and stressed that such initiatives should be given the seriousness they deserve as poverty eradication was one of the president’s flagship programmes.

Mr Seretse explained that the fundamental goal of poverty eradication was dignity for all. Therefore, all initiatives towards poverty eradication were commendable. However, he urged officials to make sure that beneficiaries always have the equipment that they need on time.

He, however, acknowledged that transport was a major challenge in all government departments; and to mitigate it, he said, there was a proposal that all ministries should service their own fleet at the garage of their choice.

The Kweneng District Council secretary, Mr Wadza Tema, explained that cluster garden approach was found most appropriate by the council to empower and engage several beneficiaries because most of the residents were faced with challenges of lack of natural resources such as land and water.

Mr Tema noted that the strategy to cluster beneficiaries aspires to maximize benefits through resource sharing and skills sharing hence, the garden will be used as a training facility for seven settlements in the Kweneng District.

To ensure sustainability of the project, he said, the council would ask the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) to train beneficiaries. Mr Palelo Motaosane, the deputy chairperson of the Kweneng District Council who is also the Coordinator of the Remote Area Dweller Programme (RADP), said there were three economic projects in Kweneng, namely bakery, sewing and carpentry which were all doing well.

He said RADP projects suffered shortage of staff and equipment because of the vastness of the area. He added that infrastructure such as poor roads discouraged civil servants from wanting to work in such areas. The project operates on a six-hectare fenced land.

The council, in partnership with the Department of Crops Production’s community service programme, set up net shades, connected water from the matimela borehole, cleared the site, put manure, tilled soils and planted seedlings to get 13 beneficiaries to start the project operational.

Kweneng, a village in the Kweneng District, has a population of 570 and 24 of them 24 were registered as destitute and 28 others were orphans while 110 people engaged in the Ipelegeng programme. ENDS