12 Feb 2024

The newly announced Chema Chema Fund is ideal for creating small industries, especially in Selebi Phikwe, says Specially Elected Member of Parliament, Ms Beauty Manake.

Contributing to the 2024/25 budget proposals recently, she said the fund was what Selebi Phikwe needed because it could help revive the economy of the town and uplift livelihoods, adding that the area was dealing with the impact of the closure of the BCL mine.

Ms Manake also pointed out that ongoing projects in the area such as the citrus project provided opportunities for value chain development.

She said community members and village development committees could form cooperatives to start projects such as beekeeping for honey production.

Furthermore, she said the community could also establish processing plants to make fruit juice and jam from the fruits that would come from the citrus project thereby creating more income streams.

Ms Manake also urged the Department of Roads and Transport to revisit its taxi and combi permit issuing process, saying permits had long been awarded and were limiting entry into the industry.

Francistown West Member of Parliament, Mr Ignatius Moswaane said there was need to empower the informal sector because it was key to uplifting lives.

He said the Chema Chema fund was an important initiative, but that it was unfortunate because it was introduced during the election year.

He accused the ruling party of coming up with programmes during election years and letting them collapse thereafter.

He said the implementation of programmes was a main challenge and called for more efforts to empower the informal sector.

Mr Moswaane said Francistown, as the country’s second city deserved more developments.

He added that unlike Gaborone, Francistown had plenty of land for development as well as water.

However, he said the city needed storm water drainage and sewage reticulation infrastructure, noting that some homesteads in both Francistown and Gaborone had pit latrines,

MP for Takatokwane, Mr Tshoganetso Leuwe praised the newly introduced political party funding as a welcome development and that it would help to level the ground for politicians.

He said some politicians had invested their resources in campaigns and that some ended up destitute while others quit politics because of lack of funding.

He argued that there was nothing wrong with the ruling party coming up with projects and programmes during an election year as it was fufilling promises made.

He said the Chema Chema fund was a welcome development, but said the P200 million allocated the fund was ‘too low’.

He said the fund should assist the informal sector as it was core to supporting economies.

On agriculture, he said the Temo Letlotlo programme was better than SPAAD, noting the individual fencing component which was not available under ISPAAD.

He, however, said the programme could have started as a pilot project in order to assess its viability before being rolled out.

He also argued that the drilling of boreholes should have been included in the programme, saying government would be addressing challenges in irrigation and the provision of water for livestock.

Boteti East MP, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe said the budget proposal had instilled a renewed sense of hope for economic recovery in the country, adding that it would also stimulate economic growth after the impact of COVID-19.

He commended the finance minister for allocating more funds to the education sector, saying schools needed maintenance and furniture.

He added that boarding facilities in many schools required a facelift.

Mr Lelatisitswe also said there was a need for serviced land in Letlhakane as the area had a lot of squatters.

He said some were from marginalised communities and urged government to buy land and address the challenge. ENDS