19 Nov 2023

Government has been urged to prioritise maintenance of health and education facilities countrywide.

Contributing to State-of-the- Nation Address on Thursday, Sefhare/Ramokgonami Member of Parliament, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang said the facilities were in a bad state.

Dr Gobotswang said it was unfortunate to observe potholes in classroom, shortage of stationery and pertinent educational materials such as chalk boards. He said hospitals were equally challenged as structures were dilapidated.

He said some staffrooms, classrooms, hospitals and staff houses were infested with bats, harbouring in roof ceilings resulting in health hazards.

Dr Gobotswang said the recent Auditor General Report emanating from an audit conducted in 23 schools across the country had observed that classrooms and other school facilities were dilapidated and in some cases bat infested.

The MP said it was unfortunate to observe that efforts by government to maintain health and education facilities were slow with cyclic maintenance failing to take off.

Meanwhile, Dr Gobotswang said water woes were becoming a thing of the past in his constituency following the P280 million Mahalapye water treatment plant expansion project. 

The project, he said had improved water situation despite a few incidents of continuous bursts of pipes and leakages along the distribution lines, but was expected to normalise.

He appreciated the ongoing maintenance of roads that included patching of potholes and resealing in his constituency, but appealed to government to consider tarring Mokobeng-Radisele and Moshopha-Radisele roads in the coming NDP. 

He said the road linked the constituency with the main corridor of the A1 to other parts of the country.

Dr Gobotswang said he was worried by the high cost of living due to increase in food prices, saying the larger percentage of the rural communities were bearing the brunt. 

He added that the situation was worsened by the fact that even those who could be assisted through food baskets were not assessed as social workers, hindered by among others shortage of transport.

With the 2022/23 declared a drought year, Sefhare/Ramokgonami MP noted that many livelihoods, especially in rural households were affected. 

He suggested further interventions such as an assessment to identify those who could be enrolled under the social support programme as temporary destitute.

Dr Gobotswang advised government to establish an agriculture policy, saying it was the foundation of food security. He said the sector would not grow as long as it did not have a policy to give it direction. ENDS