30 Aug 2023

The high number of school dropouts in the Good Hope/Mmathethe constituency are a cause for concern, says Good Hope council chairperson, Mr Fanki Motsaathebe.

Speaking during Good Hope full council meeting recently, Mr Motsaathebe said for the last quarter, at least 40 students dropped out of school across the district.

He said that the dropouts ranged from primary level to senior school.

The chairperson pointed out that the dropouts were mainly due to desertion save for four of them, which were due to pregnancy.

He said Digawana’s Nthwalang and Mmathethe junior secondary schools recorded two cases of pregnancy each.

Mr Motsaathebe said that Good Hope Senior Secondary School had five cases of desertion, Lotlaamoreng junior had two, Nthwalang 14, Molopo River three, Ramolefhe one while Mmathethe topped the list with 16.

He urged councillors to do all in their power to combat this societal ill, saying the problem should be nipped in the bud as pupils were the future of the nation.

Meanwhile the chairperson said a total of 123 cases of mumps had been reported in the district with Ramatlabama village accounting for up to 115 cases.

“It must however be noted that no complications related to the outbreak have been reported, nor admissions nor deaths”, he said.

He made it known that most of those affected were children with age range of between six and eight years old.

The chairperson advised the public to take precautionary measures by always covering their mouths when coughing, washing of hands with clean water and isolation for at least five days when infected.

For his part, the opposition chief whip, Mr Lazarus Ncube said he was disappointed that there was no mention of tarring some roads, as promised.

He said the very same roads which were earmarked for tarring were now reported to be on the waiting list of dry-grading with a whooping budget of half a million pula.

He however appreciated other projects that were still under construction under the Constituency Community projects, where five community halls were being built across the constituency as well as the upgrading of Mmakgori Clinic. ENDS