06 Sep 2023

The chairperson of the Palapye District Council, Mr Jordan Makhura, has implored all to rally behind President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Mindset Change initiative and make it a reality. 

Officially opening the council  session on Monday, Mr Makhura said President Masisi took it upon himself to officially launch the campaign through which he called on the nation to change and adopt new ways of doing things to make Botswana a better place for all. 

This initiative, he said, required all to engage in and make the council a winning entity. 

Updating the council on the progress implementation status and pertinent issues in the first and second quarter of the financial year 2023/24, Mr Makhura said acute shortage of funds continued to be a threat on the timely implementation of development projects and caused delays in service delivery. 

He pleaded with the council not to be discouraged but rather intensify their revenue collection streams to supplement their budget and continue to improve service delivery as per the mandate. 

He emphasised that Palapye was now a stand-alone district and the community was expecting a lot from them. “The ball is in our court; let us make it happen for the benefit of our district,” he said. 

He said his council was allocated P128 561 230 for financial year 2023/2024 and currently the expenditure stood at P46 931 596 which is 36 per cent of the total budget.

The analysis shows that some votes are incurring over-expenditures.

He expressed hope that at least seven primary schools would undergo maintainance this year. 

Furthermore, he said relief for destitute had also spent more than 75 per cent of its yearly budget before the end of the second quarter. 

“It clearly indicates that a deficit is anticipated by the end of the year,” he said, urging the council to be prudent in its spending.  He noted that 2022/23 had been declared a severe drought year throughout the country and government increased the Ipelegeng quota by 10 000 nationally. “This was in response to the high number of beneficiaries on the waiting list because of the limited seasonal jobs due to the drought,” he said. 

He said the Ipelegeng programme had adopted the skill-based initiative and equipped beneficiaries with diverse trades, which  would be certificated by the Construction Industry Trade Fund. 

He said the beneficiaries were inducted at the Tswapong Bokone Brigade in Lerala and later relocated to their respective villages where their projects were based. 

Mr Makhura informed councillors that the general electrical maintenance of council facilities remained a challenge due to financial constraints, hence they continued to do minor maintenance as and when they received reports from end users with the materials that they salvage from other councils. 

He said the district had since lost health workers especially nurses and doctors due to resignation, further studies, retirement and transfers. He said the Ministry was, however, working hard to recruit more nurses and doctors to replace those who left the system. 

He said the nurses relinquished themselves from dispensing drugs since July 1 and the district had since received three pharmacy technicians on temporary contracts from the Ministry of Health to add to the limited number of pharmacy staff to mitigate the crisis. While the situation is said to be under control Mr Makhura said the council wa working round the clock to ensure that patients received their medication. 

On the issue of land management, Mr Makhura said the Palapye Sub-land Board had completed allocations of all available layouts for the financial year 2022/23 and currently the office was busy verifying the layouts to ensure that there were no outstanding plots. 

Further, he said, the sub-land board had drawn its Strategic Plan for the year 2023/2024 where 4 676 plots would be allocated. 

Mr Makhura said currently the sub-land board had submitted 10 base maps to the council. 

These base maps are for Matlhakola, Manaledi, Lerala, Goo-Sekgweng and Radisele. 

For Lecheng, Mokungwane, Moreomabele and Malaka, the base maps are awaiting design, he said. 

Mr Makhura further said the Ministry of Education and Skills Development had taken a decision to recruit secondary school trained teachers to primary schools under the retooling initiative. 

In the Palapye District, 96 secondary school teachers have been employed in various primary schools. 

“This initiative has curbed unemployment, the high bill for temporary teachers and high vacancy rate in the district as there is low supply of primary school-trained teachers,” he said. ends