31 Aug 2023

Public officers should be proactive and provide solutions to challenges and grievances experienced by members of the public, Vice President Mr Slumber Tsogwane said Wednesday, when addressing kgotla meetings in the villages of Xhumo and Mmadikola. 

Public officers, he said, should give honest and genuine responses that are results-oriented, and called on them to devise implementable solutions through innovative problem-solving strategies. 

They should also should have in place a standard for handling issues, emphasising that it was crucial to escalate those they could not solve to the next high-level authority. 

Mr Tsogwane, asked the residents to refrain from using kgotla meetings to express their concerns, but to do so through structures such as the constituency office and Botswana Speaks. 

He encouraged public officers to embrace mindset change and deliver on their mandate as expected. 

Mr Tsogwane also discussed the importance of sharing information and ensuring that it reached the public through various platforms so as to cater for those who had no access to online services. 

The residents of both villages complained that volunteers who were engaged to work on the malaria campaign in 2002 had not received their payments to date. 

Ms Grady Boima of Xhumo said that she was one of those who had worked on the malaria campaign and had not been remunerated. 

Another resident in Xhumo, Ms Tina Mokgethisi expressed concern that tenders for Boteti District were not advertised.

In Mmadikola, a resident who supplied the local primary school with fruits complained that the tender allocation system was not designed to empower locals, as they were only expected to supply for a day. 

The Acting Council Secretary, Mr Christopher Maramba said that the tenders were advertised on social media platforms, at the kgotla offices, local primary school and service centre.

 He also said that they had developed a database of people who were engaged on Malaria campaign and were devising a plan to remunerate them. ENDS