02 Dec 2013

Parliament has been told that Bangwaketse tribal leadership and the district commissioner were briefed in March 2010 on the closure of the Rural Industries Innovation Centre (RIIC) in Kanye.

Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi said the RIPCO (B) acting managing director and his team addressed the tribal authorities about the planned closure of the company in August 2011 when the closure of the company gained momentum.

Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Dr Venson-Moitoi said the permanent secretary in the ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology together with management team and the Botswana Technology Centre addressed both the tribal authorities and the full council in March 2012.

She emphasised that the closing of the company was not as smooth as anticipated and took much longer than planned due to unforeseen circumstances. The ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology is however in consultation with various ministries who have expressed their interest to take over the activities at the center under a separate arrangement.

She stated that the operation of the center will continue once the necessary arrangement, although there may be different operational modalities to the current set up.

In this regard, she said the operations of the center are expected to continue to offer assistance therefore no negative impacts is expected to the village of Kanye and Botswana in the medium to long term. Furthermore, she said the economic benefits of the transition will continue to accrue to the village as expected since the retrenchment packages are paid out to former employees of the company.

The minister was responding to a question by Kanye North MP, Mr Kentse Rammidi who had asked whether Bangwaketse were consulted on the closure of RIIC in Kanye and also to state the economic implications of the closure on the village of Kanye. ENDS