22 Jun 2023

Kanye District Council is dedicated to implementing local empowerment schemes, which will ultimately contribute to the creation of employment opportunities.

Speaking at the opening of the full council session on Monday, the council chairperson, Mr Mpho Dithole said to date a total of P9.1 million had been expended by the council, with P6.5 million spent on local suppliers and contractors.

“It is important to note that the remaining expenditure of P2.6 million was for payments of goods and services that were not available locally,” he said.

He also appealed to government institutions within Kanye District to assist enterprises operating within the district in gaining competitiveness, which would subsequently trigger job creation.

“We also need to enhance our collaboration on trade finance for Batswana who have been contracted to do business with government. 

This will promote the establishment of medium to large scale projects such as manufacturing, which will contribute to national priorities such as job creation and food sustainability,” he said.

Mr Dithole said the council continued to implement programmes that significantly contribute to employment creation and income generation for local communities, resulting in an improvement in the wellbeing of the people.

“Kanye District received a total of 20 applications to keep game in masimo, out of which 10 were approved and issued permits. Additionally, all 27 Youth Development Fund projects approved in the 2022/2023 financial year were funded before the end of the year, and beneficiaries received training in business management,” he said.

The council chairperson highlighted that for the financial year 2022/2023, CEDA had funded 106 businesses to the value of about P5.86m. Out of those businesses, 54 were under Letlhabile, 10 under Mabogo Dinku while the remaining were funded under CEDA mainline.

“The funded projects have created a total of 135 jobs, with 95 females and 40 males employed. Among the beneficiaries, 38 are youth”, he said.

He further pointed out that in its efforts to support enterprise development, Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) was overseeing a total of 79 enterprises within the Southern District, with 44 of them located in the Kanye District. Mr Dithole said those enterprises had generated sales revenue amounting to over P4.19m as of May 2023.

He noted that LEA had provided business advisory services to those enterprises, including facilitating business plans to access finance, training and mentoring, access to research information, business monitoring and coaching, market access, product testing for quality assurance and capacity-building.

Mr Dithole said insufficient business experience and technical skills could result in project failures, despite training and mentoring being provided to beneficiaries, adding that the council had also observed cases of mismanagement and diversion of project funds by beneficiaries or promoters, as well as abandonment and lack of commitment to projects, which defeated the purpose of those programmes.

With regard to advancing the prospects of a knowledge-based economy, he noted that the Council continued to improve human capital development, adding that KDC had prioritised acquisition of new skills and retooling of staff in areas that had been identified as critical for improving the performance of the economy.

“These skills can serve as a useful conveyor belt to create a community of self-employed individuals,” he said, further noting that enhancing the quality of education is of utmost importance.

Addressing the presidential Reset Agenda Priority Number 3 of Digitalisation, aimed at producing 21^st-century learners who are conversant in ICT, Mr Dithole said all Form Five pupils had been supplied with laptops, and logistics for supplying Form Four pupils were currently underway.

“It is hoped that this initiative will be extended to junior schools and eventually to upper primary schools in due course,” he said.

Mr Dithole said the council was committed to improving basic education outcomes, adding that to date, all primary schools in the district were offering reception class programme.

He indicated that due to lack of infrastructure, most schools could not enrol all learners eligible for Standard One next year.

“We remain hopeful that funds permitting, the council will consider constructing more classrooms to accommodate more learners,” he said. Ends