22 Jun 2025

Local authorities have been urged to develop investment strategies and other implementation tools, which would be used to drive the impending Decentralisation Policy. 

Addressing a special full council meeting in Jwaneng on Thursday, the Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ketlhalefile Motshegwa said even though the initial plan was to present the Draft Policy next month, it had since been moved to the November Parliament to conclude the consultative meetings with stakeholders. 

However, he noted that in the interim, councils should hit the ground running and formulate implementation plans in their jurisdictions. 

He challenged councils to devise tailor-made programmes and policies, which were suitable to the local communities they served, as compared to the one-size-fits-all approach. 

Mr Motshegwa also underscored the need for them to be innovative and creative in their revenue generation strategies, which would drive developments in their districts. 

“We are reconfiguring governance of councils, particularly based on the intended direction by the Decentralisation Policy. For instance, the Decentralisation Policy says councils will be empowered to generate own revenue, that means councils must be able to register and operate investment vehicles,” he noted. 

The Minister said for this transformation to take place, there was need to capacitate leaders for them to be able to drive such developments and be globally competitive. 

He said while plans were underway to train them, they should also visualise their councils on the same scale with their international counterparts. 

“Our councils or municipalities must not confine themselves to comparing themselves with each other. We must aspire to be at par with the rest of the municipalities at a global level,” said Mr Motshegwa. 

He said councils would be drilled on effective investment models such as the Public Private Partnership (PPP), which could be instrumental in driving local developments. 

The minister noted that the government’s objective of giving councils executive powers would ensure delivery of durable projects, which were on time and within budget. 

He also said the implementation plans should strive to fight corruption and its manifestations to close any revenue leakages, which cause project delays. 

Mr Motshegwa further underscored the need for councillors to work as a team with the council management since their roles in community service were designed to complement each other. 

He said while councillors were expected to set performance targets as vision bearers, they also had a responsibility to facilitate funding for district projects. For his part, Jwaneng Mayor, Mr Ronica Ntsimako said through the Mayor’s Roadmap, Jwaneng Town Council was already making strides in improving service delivery to the communities. 

He said the council was partnering with Jwaneng Mine’s business partner, Red Path to provide offices for councillors in the township.  Mr Ntsimako said this would not only give dignity to the roles of the councillors but would go a long way in enhancing their accessibility to the people they served. 

He also implored the government to expedite land servicing in Unit 9 and 10 to pave way for plot allocations. “We have a serious challenge of shortage of accommodation in Jwaneng and there are employees who commute from as far as Kanye and Sese. This issue needs urgent attention in order for us to improve service delivery for our people,” said the mayor. ENDS