06 Sep 2023

erowe District councillors have approved District Development Plan 9 proposals.

They were presented by the District Development Plan Committee in a special full council meeting on Tuesday.

After consultations with communities in the Serowe District recently, the District Development Committee submitted issues of concern, mitigations and development projects to be considered for implementation .

Addressing the special full council meeting, Serowe District principal economist, Ms Ethel Mosojane said key issues for the development plan had been appreciated village by village recently.

She said distorted development led to poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and environmental and infrastructural inequalities among the people.

Ms Mosojane told councillors that high youth unemployment contributed to social ills such as substance abuse, crime and mental health challenges. 

She said they have proposed to encourage self-employment and the utilisation of empowerment programmes to create income generating opportunities for the youth.

She said they proposed to offer psycho-social support and vocational training to address mental health issues among the youth. Ms Mosojane added that they would establish youth incubation centres and factory shells, stating that the non-servicing of Youth Development Fund loans depleted funding and reduced the number of potential beneficiaries.

She said they would intensify the Akola ke Akole loan repayment strategy to ensure loan repayment and sustainability, adding that collapsed funded projects hindered economic growth.

She said they proposed reducing the dependency syndrome by strengthening project monitoring to identify issues early and prevent project failures.

Concerning gender-based violence prevalence in the district, she said there was under reporting of cases, and that services for victims were still fragmented.

She said there was family structure disruption, lost productivity and increased healthcare costs, and proposed establish of child friendly facilities and improvement of investigations to secure convictions and thereby win public trust.

She added that they would also intensify public awareness and outreach community policing approach and dialogue.

On the poor enforcement of laws and regulations, she said they were due to such factors as shortage of transport and inadequate resources which hindered law enforcement efforts, leading to increased crime rates.

She proposed alignment of vehicle procurement to terrain, strengthening of inter-departmental collaboration to pool resources and improve enforcement efficiency.

Councillors were told that lack of police posts and staff accommodation, insufficient police presence in high-crime areas increased crime rates.

To ensure community safety and security, she proposed promotion of community policing and neighbourhood crime watch programmes to supplement law enforcement efforts.

On poor waste management, she said due to the fragmented management of waste, lack of dumping sites and dilapidated oned, the district was dirty.

Ms Mosojane said lack of waste collection vehicles and equipment as well as poor management of  landfills led to environmental pollution.

She also proposed recycling of waste for recovery and reclamation, adding that they would establish well maintained dumping sites with a coordinated approach. 

She also promised regular maintenance of fence at dumping sites to contain waste and prevent environmental contamination.

The report also indicated that all physical projects proposed by members of the community in various villages were presented and that councillors approved the report.

The District Development Plan is a basic strategic planning document for all development to be carried out in rural administrative districts (District Development Plans) and urban centres (Urban Development Plans) of Botswana.ends