28 Nov 2013

Moshupa MP, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi, has raised concern about the rate at which some poverty eradication beneficiaries in the Moshupa area have neglected their projects.

Speaking in a kgotla meeting at Goo-Thupelo ward in Moshupa, Mr Masisi explained that the programme was aimed at lifting people from abject poverty. He said the programme had changed lives in other constituencies and thus urged the relevant government departments to ensure progress by monitoring the projects in their respective areas.

Mr Masisi, also Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, said beneficiaries should be accountable and honest about the assistance they received under the programme because it was funded by the public.

Mr Masisi also advised public officers in the Moshupa Sub-district to advise beneficiaries accordingly to ensure those funded in the future took projects suitable for their areas. He further advised beneficiaries to report the challenges they encountered along the way either directly to his office or the district commissioner so he could appreciate the reality on the ground.

Meanwhile, Mr Masisi revealed that government had taken a deliberate decision to stop funding tuck-shops (dimausu) under the programme because they were not viable. He said out of the ten tuck-shops which were funded in the Moshupa area only one was operational while the rest had collapsed. He explained each constituency had been allotted 200 projects in the current financial year but Moshupa residents were failing to take advantage.

However, Masisi said backyard garden projects were generally not doing well countrywide due to shortage of water and thus challenged residents to consider alternative packages.

In response some residents complained that their names had long been picked and forwarded to the Social and Community Development office but they were yet to receive feedback. They also complained that the office always used shortage of transport as an excuse not to asses projects around the village. Residents also raised concern that some people with disabilities were not being assisted. ENDS