14 May 2025

Member of Parliament for Kgatleng East, Mr Mabuse Pule has encouraged Mabalane residents to venture into small scale businesses  as a way of alleviating poverty in the area.

Mr Pule said this in response to an outcry that many youth were pushed by unemployment to sell their residential plots as a springboard to thrust aside poverty. Mr Pule said, when addressing a kgotla meeting in Mabalane yesterday, that in other areas such as Tswapong, particularly in Makoro expanse, people were running small stalls selling water melons, sweet reed, corn, morogo wa dinawa to mention a few. 

Mr Pule said he was confident that there would be a mushrooming of businesses upon the completion of Mabalane-Modipane road. He reminded youth that they were spoilt for choice since government had an array of schemes in place to utilise instead of selling plots. Mr Pule further encouraged residents to apply for assistance in Temo Letlotlo, National Development Bank, CEDA and Local Entrepreneurship Authority (LEA).

He said LEA’s major role was to offer training on entrepreneurship.  On the issue of selling residential plots, he said it was a disappointing decision making where Batswana dispossessed themselves a right to own a plot. 

“I doubt that there is still someone, especially the youth, who does not understand the worth of land,” he said. 

He cautioned those who sold plots to rethink about the worthiness of having it, adding that it was even unwise for the youth, who should be knowledgeable to be the ones who sell plots.

“A plot is something that appreciate in value; it’s worth is ever increasing hence calling for a boom if you sell it or invest on it in the future. It is best to keep the plot so that in the future when it has added more value then you can sell it to buy another one,” advised Mr Pule.

On other issues, he assured residents that he would attend to shortage of drugs at the clinics as well as the scarcity of staff in some government departments in the area. Mr Pule agreed that it was high time they advocated for Madikwe Junior Secondary School to be upgraded to a unified secondary school to resolve issues of learners being placed at far places to complete senior secondary education.

Assistant Superintendent Relebatseng Thataemang of Mathubudukwane Police Station assured residents that police had embarked on an operation to patrol along the borders of Botswana and South Africa to deter trespassers suspected to be smuggling drugs through channels cut along the border fence. ENDS