30 Aug 2024

The construction of an arts and crafts centre as well as small scale industry shells through the Local Economic Development (LED) strategy will enhance Jwaneng’s efforts to create a diversified local economy, free from impediments that often hamper the successful operation of small scale businesses. 

The town’s Mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie told the full council meeting on Tuesday that for the town to have a robust local economy, it was imperative to have in place an environment that made operating small businesses a seamless undertaking.

Ms Ditsie, who informed the meeting that the two LED-funded projects were currently both at evaluation stage, and that the district had trained over 120 people from the informal sector on several business models since the LED strategy was launched in October 2022. 

She said further to that, several business stakeholder engagement conferences targeting both the informal and formal sectors were held in Jwaneng as part of efforts to drive the LED strategy. Regarding the implementation of the economic empowerment initiatives that government has availed for citizens, the Mayor cited the Temo Letlotlo and the Thuo Letlotlo among those whose implementation was ongoing in the town. 

She said to date, a total of 4 548 farmers have been registered on the Temo Letlotlo Crop Management System for the Mabutsane/Jwaneng District. “Out of the total registered, 3 054 micro scale farmers were issued with 100% grant for purchase of inputs and draught power. 

“This constitutes 70% of all those who registered on the system. The remaining 30% are the non-micro scale farmers who qualify for seasonal loans,” she said. 

As for Thuo Letlotlo, she said its implementation was also ongoing with 55 technical staff having been trained on the programme while the full programme roll-out was scheduled for August 29 to September 26 for all extension areas in the Jwaneng/Mabutsane District. 

On a different matter, Ms Ditsie said in its continued efforts to support enterprise development, Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) has a total of 18 enterprises in Jwaneng under its mentorship programme.

The 18 enterprises have a cumulative sales revenue of P4.8 million and 154 retained jobs to date, she said, describing retained jobs as carried forward from the previous financial year. 

“This shows that our interventions have massive impact to help enterprises maintain jobs that have already been created. 

“The predominant sector in Jwaneng remains manufacturing with nine clients, followed by services with nine clients and one for agriculture,” she said, adding that of the 18 micro, small and medium enterprises, 11 were women-owned while five were youth-owned. 

Ms Ditsie said the enterprises were assisted with business advisory services comprising of business plan preparation, facilitation to access finance, training and mentoring, access to research information and opportunities, business monitoring and coaching, market access, product testing for quality assurance and capacity building. 

Regarding the work of Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) in the town and its environs, the mayor said the agency has funded 13 businesses for the period of April to August 2024 with a total value of P270 300. 

She however pointed out that of the funded projects none was from Chema Chema as CEDA was yet to approve a loan under the category in the area. 

Ms Ditsie said the town was undertaking environmental health initiatives in a bid to safeguard natural resources and ensure a sustainable future. 

She said it was for this reason that she had initiated the waste regeneration strategy, whose main focus was to promote efforts to reduce pollution, manage waste, conserve natural habitats and help protect the air, water and soil quality. 

As part of efforts under the waste regeneration strategy, the town held the Cleanest Ward competitions in September last year.

Further, she said there was also a 100 days clean-up initiative that was held in conjunction with the Debswana Jwaneng Mine, adding that though noticeable efforts were visible around town, it was evident that more could still be done to reach the goal of making Jwaneng the cleanest settlement in Botswana. 

With regard to household waste collection, Ms Ditsie said the situation had improved immensely following the decision to engage private waste collection companies after the council had struggled for some time to keep up with the set collection service standards. ENDS