30 Aug 2023

Moshupa District Council faces challenges of limited funding which hinders it from implementing new infrastructure as stipulated in District Development and National Development Plans.

The Council Chairperson, Mr Sonny Phiri, said this when giving a keynote address at the opening of the full council session on Monday.

“Our roads are damaged, potholes patching does not assist much, as most of them needs resealing, gravelling and upgrading to bitumen,” he said.

Mr Phiri said maintenance of government buildings was still a challenge, as most of them were old and needed refurbishment. The education sector has shortage of classrooms, administration blocks and furniture.

He however indicated that minor maintenance was still being done through the insufficient recurrent budget.

He said the priority processes for the P500 000. which had been allocated for the financial year 2023/2024 were ongoing, adding that, the allocated funds of P450 000 for year 2022/23 had been prioritized to maintain four Customary Courts at Moshupa, Lekgolobotlo, Lotlhakane West and Ranaka, noting that the projects were about to be completed.

“Today we await to realise construction of projects such as Moshupa Primary Hospital, mini stadium, upgrading of Moshupa and Sesung clinics and Mogaung minimal land servicing and construction of culverts and paving of roads,” he said.

Mr Phiri said other ongoing projects included the installation of solar lights in Moshupa-Manyana Constituency and installation of a mini-solar 30kva plant at Machana Satellite Pre and Primary School.

He added: “District provides infrastructure to its people in all villages at different times and magnitudes. Projects that have been implemented over the past five years included roads, bridges, classrooms, teacher’s squatters, water projects, solar energy plants at Machana and Seherelela, 10 km road gravelling in Moshupa, 5km at Ranaka, 2km at Kgomokasitwa and 5 km at Mogonye.

“Other implemented projects included storm water drainage at Moshupa, Ranaka and Lekgolobotlo, 30 km minimal land servicing at Moshupa, 15km at Pitseng, 10km at Mogonye, 5km at Ranaka, 10km at Ralekgetho and 5km at Kgomokasitwa.”

Mr Phiri raised a concern over the delays in land servicing of new allocated plots, adding that most villages were delayed due to limited funding though minimally done in some areas.

“The district also faced shortage of water which now shall be alleviated by the current project of Kanye North South Carrier Water project,” he said.

Mr Phiri decried challenges of both housing and office space due to the upgrading of districts across all the departments.

“Sharing of resources will be done but there is need to budget for other avenues such as leasing of offices and houses from the private sector,” he said.

Mr Phiri also indicated that for the district to be prosperous there must be unity. “Unity is very key if we aspire to implement our slogans, such as “fatshe leno la rona”, botho, democracy to mention but a few,” he said.

He urged all to be exemplary by displaying maximum discipline and high moral to the community, adding that as collective leadership they must also be committed to community work.

Deliberating on the Sustainable Environment Development pillar, he said that aspect remained key to government priorities and noted that the community also played an important role in the use of natural resources.

“Though we had a challenge of over usage of some resources such as sand, the government has put stringent measures so that the sustainability of it is attained,” he said.

Mr Phiri said programmes had also been developed to protect and care for the environment. He added that backyard nurseries were examples of such projects.

Councillors were informed that about 21 beneficiaries, which included 19 backyard tree nursery and two landscaping individuals had been assisted through the Poverty Eradication Programme.

Challenges faced by the district include drought years that might lead to soil erosions, deforestation, pollution due to urbanisation and an increased domestic waste.

On the aspect of Governance, Peace And Security pillar, Mr Phiri noted that the district had been in consultation with its stakeholders at every stage of development.

“Kgotla still remains the meeting place where every person can voice their opinions without any fear and our communities are encouraged to embrace their cultures which are facing erosion by modern lifestyles.

Commitment to that is shown by the government sponsorship to celebrations such as Dikgafela Bagammanaana and Bahurutshe cultural festivals which are funded annually at P30 000 each since 2016 to date,” he said.

Mr Phiri said dealing with limited resources in a sparsely populated country was a challenge hence the government came up with initiatives meant to improve service delivery.

He said it was through initiatives such as taking services to the people which helped cut long distances travelled to access services. Hampering the initiative, he said was limited resources and shortage of manpower.

Under the Presidential Housing Appeal, Mr Phiri noted that Moshupa District had received about eight houses, which had brought dignity to the people.

He explained that the Primary School Feeding Programme was continuing. In 2018, he added, the feeding was improved by introducing additional items such as bread, milk and agricultural produce.

Other successful initiatives include donkey carts and handyman programmes, destitute housing, Tirelo Setshaba and LIMID programmes. ENDS