20 Jul 2023

The role of a councillor is to provide a link between the community and council as per the mandate of the council provided by the Local Government Act and the councillor handbook.

Answering a parliamentary question, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kgotla Autlwetse said councillors were a conduit between the community and council.

Mr Autlwetse said a councillor advocated for the upliftment of the livelihood of his or her electorates irrespective of the status or category of the locality in question.

He said the hierarchy of settlements and the corresponding level of developments were primarily guided by the Revised National Settlement Policy of 2004.

He added that even ungazetted settlements received services commensurate with their level of hierarchy.

He said in the case of Bojanala Ward in the North West District and other development partners provided access to basic social services such as Ipelegeng, social safety nets, mobile health services, Community Based Natural Management (CBNRM) through community trusts under the guidance of a technical advisory committee.

He said the role of the councillor remained relevant, adding that the ward had access to basic services that were commensurate to the status of the said settlement.

He added that the community of Bojanala Ward was not excluded from national and local development plans.

Maun West MP, Mr Dumelang Saleshando had wanted to know the role of councillors whose wards were made exclusively of ungazetted settlements, citing Bojanala Ward in Maun West.

Mr Saleshando also asked why such areas were excluded from National Development Plans, District Development Plans and had now been excluded from Constituency Community Programme projects following the decision to focus on paving of internal roads. Ends