16 Jan 2014

Kgosi Molatedi Dingalo of Shorobe has praised government for stepping up efforts of eradicating poverty country wide.

He said in an interview that communities have been living in abject poverty and since the introduction of the poverty eradication programmes, residents have applied for backyard gardening and rearing of small stock in large numbers and their projects are doing exceptionally well.

Kgosi said he normally visits some projects to see progress and appreciates challenges faced by beneficiaries and expressed happiness that they have shown determination, commitment and discipline to ensure that the projects make a difference in their lives

Kgosi Dingalo praised the government for taking a lead role by introducing various empowerment programmes geared towards bettering the lives of Batswana. He said there is a decrease in the number of beneficiaries supported by the council under social welfare as communities are taking advantage of the programme.

He also expressed concern that most beneficiaries are old people. He said young people are still dragging their feet to tap into available opportunities aimed at improving their lives, yet there is a high rate of unemployment amongst them.

Kgosi said some have indicated that they have no interest in farming projects as they are meant for older people. He said it bothers him to see government continuing to come up with good initiatives to empower the youth and they, on the other hand are reluctant to use them because they lack patience.

He said most of the youths have enrolled in the Ipelegeng programme which is aimed at short term employment support to carry out essential developments.

Meanwhile, deputy chief, Kgosi Gaditshwane Mmutle said there is need to do more to encourage the community to venture into other economic activities in an endeavor to support their families more especially now when cattle rearing is proving to be a major challenge in Ngamiland as a result of ailing markets and the reoccurrence of Foot and Mouth disease.

He also noted that wildlife and human conflict has been a problem in their village as the department of Agriculture was doing the maintenance of the buffer fence alone.

He hoped that the situation would improve as the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism will be coming in to assist with the maintenance of veterinary fences. “This is a step in the right direction to involve other relevant stakeholders and we believe the two ministries would come up with a permanent solution”, he added.

Last year tourism operators appreciated that the Ministry of Agriculture has been accountable for the maintenance of the buffer fence through provision of all the necessary resources and they found nothing wrong with contributing to assist the government since they also benefit from the fence. 

They agreed to form a committee comprising of the operators representatives, delegates from all relevant ministries and departments so that they could work on the modalities of how to implement the partnership. ENDS