24 Mar 2024

It would not be prudent to relocate the headquarters of Okavango District Council from Gumare to Shakawe as such decision would overstretch limited resources in that region, says the assistant minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Mabuse Pule.

Mr Pule told Parliament on Wednesday that the ideal approach would be to allow for demand pull and incremental developments in Shakawe.

He said while the government decentralisation process of 2022/23 resulted in the upgrading of Okavango Sub District Council to a fully-fledged district council, the decision was meant to upgrade the existing sub district council without changing the headquarters location. Instead, he said, the main focus was to decentralise decision-making and bring services closer to the people.

“Once we have reached satisfactory level of implementation of this reform, the next logical phase is to turn our efforts to operationalising the approved Sub District Councils. Therefore, in the medium to long term, Shakawe will serve as headquarters of its sub district,” said Mr Pule.

He outlined that Gumare was established as headquarters of the Okavango Sub District in the early eighties after consultations with all relevant stakeholders. He said following that decision, government proceeded to make the necessary public investments in Gumare to enable service provision commensurate with the status of a sub district headquarters. 

He said such investments included provision of the Rural Administration Centre.

The assistant minister further said the National Spatial Plan (NSP) 2036, also mapped Gumare as one of the new planning regions.

“The plan highlighted that Gumare village has an average regional services that should be accessible to all people within a reasonable period of time, no matter where they travel from within the region,” he said.

Mr Pule said as an effort to improve service provision, government in 2008 approved establishment of additional sub districts, and in that process, Shakawe was designated headquarters of the Okavango West Sub-district Council.

“The key consideration for Shakawe was its centrality, which will lead to reduced administrative area and population coverage.  However, due to resource constraints, it currently operates as a Service Centre providing services that include Social Welfare, Community Development, Commercial Affairs, Revenue Collection, Law Enforcement and Public or Environmental Health Services,” he said.

The assistant minister was responding to a question from Okavango MP, Mr Kenny Kapinga who wanted to know why the headquarters of Okavango District Council could not be relocated from Gumare to Shakawe as demanded by majority of the people of Okavango. ENDs