27 Nov 2023

It is necessary for the Ministry of Education and Skills Development to provide the requisite infrastructure to support learners with special needs.

Responding to State-Of-the-Nation Address on recently, Tati East MP, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe said with government having vowed to leave no one behind, learners with special needs should also be offered psycho-social support.

Dr Letsholathebe, who is also education and skills development minister, acknowledged that school infrastructure across the country required major maintenance. However, he applauded private entities for their support in education by among others providing regular maintenance of education facilities.

He also expressed concern over the indiscipline among pupils and  appealed for full support of parents to address the situation.

Dr Letsholathebe was also concerned by incidents of illegal mining in some parts of Tati East constituency, adding that illegal miners were also terrorising the community for exposing their deeds.

He said since the Tati East population was reliant on agriculture, the new Temo Letlotlo programme would benefit farmers since it had diverse packages.

Noting that some members of the community were reluctant for their cattle to be killed to control the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), he applauded  government for its compensation offer of P3 000 per animal as well as the proposed restocking.

Dr Letsholathebe said the Impala Artificial Insemination camp would benefit farmers who were ready and eager to improve their livestock quality.

He also advised that kraals at Butale that were used to keep cattle during the control of FMD should also be used for AI camp activities.For her part, Gaborone-Bonnington North Member of Parliament, Ms Anna Mokgethi said government was in the process of reviewing labour laws in accordance with the requirements of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Ms Mokgethi who is also Labour and Home Affairs Minister, said her ministry had engaged with labour organisations and Business Botswana to review the current labour laws and enforce them in accordance with ILO requirements.

“We have engaged all the social partners to come up with a bill which is now at the review stage. We have repealed other laws to come up with one law on labour issues that will establish independent dispute resolution structure, retrenchment packages and unfair labour issues among others,” she said.

Ms Mokgethi also said her ministry had established a minimum wage board whose membership included representation of Business Botswana, labour movements and government.

She said the minimum wage would be at par with current challenges and would be welcomed by all.

Ms Mokgethi said the recent Africa Forum on Migration, which was held by government and AU was focused on among others movement of people and movement on labour migration emphasising the connection between the two.

Therefore, she said there was a need for policies and laws to facilitate labour migration to enable the free movement of people.

Ms Mokgethi said it was important that as locals travelled to other countries, they should  explore opportunities for export. She said key and priority areas in her constituency were stormwater drainage system, internal roads, street lights and waste collection , noting that through the Transitional National Development Plan most of the desired projects would be addressed.

Ms Mokgethi said since the Block 6 clinic was now a national diabetes clinic, there was a need for another clinic in her constituency that would provide all other health services. ENDS