27 Sep 2023

Local government leaders have been encouraged to harness the potential of value chain opportunities as a means to identify areas where their councils can ehance efficiency  and reduce costs. 

 Addressing a two-day local government leader’s forum in Francistown September 26, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kgotla Autlwetse said value chain opportunities could also help to identify opportunities for new products or services that met customer needs and could help local authorities to better understand their customers and how to meet their needs.

He said councils could do that through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and engage with the private sector to deliver services and infrastructure that met the needs of the community.

“By bringing in private sector investment, councils can access additional capital and expertise that would not be available through traditional public funding sources,” he said. 

In addition, the minister said PPPs could help to create a more business-friendly environment, which could attract new businesses and investment to the area.

“It is therefore my plea that you should aggressively pursue income generating investments for your entities because government’s subvention to councils shall continue to dwindle,” he said.

The minister also called on councils to revisit their collection rates strategies and win community trust around it, adding that this would ultimately lead to economic growth and increased prosperity for the community.

On other issues, Minister Autlwetse appealed to the leaders to root out corruption and engage in the development manager model in all mega projects.

He said government was faced with a lot of challenges as it endavoured to bring services closer to the people. “As a ministry, we are forced to do our best to deliver within the limited resources. The ever changing social and economic trends demand that we find better and innovative ways to deliver services, maximizing cost efficiency and allocate resources optimally to meet the demands of our communities,” said Mr Autlwetse.

The minister said it was important for the ministry to introspect and identify its relevance to fulfil its statutory obligations.

He said dreams were centred on creating functional local authorities, harnessing the availability of their natural wealth, open potential economic avenues for local development as well as utilizing the human resource at their disposal effectively and efficiently for the betterment of BATHO PELE.

Mr Autlwetse said understanding the relevance of a ministry could also help to improve its effectiveness and efficiency, and ensure that resources were being used in the most impactful way possible. He said identifying the relevance of a ministry could help to build public trust and confidence in the institution, and demonstrate its importance to the overall functioning of the government.

For their part, the leaders complained that the newly established district councils were operating at a deficit because of the small budget allocation and this hindered the delivery of services.

They also complained of shortage of human capital and transport especially in the newly established district councils.

The mayor of Jwaneng, Ms Olga Ditsie welcomed the establishment of the department of waste management in the ministry.

She said Botswana, as a destination of choice for investors and tourists, was not well kept  especially along national highways.

She said dust bins in resting places along highways had been turned into dumping site and that most councils were inundated with shortage of resources to address the anomaly. Ms Ditsie also indicated that councils were also challenged with managing dumping sites because of lack of equipment and financial resource. Ends