25 Feb 2026

Lobatse Town Council has introduced an FNB App to maximise on digital technologies and  tackle low rates collection.

Speaking during a Full Council meeting on Monday, Lobatse mayor, Mr Aron Ganakgomo said the council continued to deploy efficient solutions for revenue maximisation to enhance efficiencies as Lobatse Town Council had been uploaded as a Public Recipient with First National Bank (FNB).

Property owners would have to log into the App, pay rates to council through cell phone banking or online transaction.

He said the move was opportune given that FNB held about 60 to 65 per cent of property market share adding that the development would enable most of rates debtors and the community at large to pay the Council conveniently at the comfort of their homes.

Additionally, Mayor Ganakgomo said the council was in the process of increasing remote payment access through the Payment Gateway to further widen the revenue pool to allow both FNB and non FNB customers to pay at their convenience.

He thus implored customers to use the payment platforms to pay debts.

He said that council in collaboration with FNB shall embark on public education and rates collection campaign through various social media platforms to raise awareness and motivate property owners to make enquiries and remit rates.

The move, Mr Ganakgomo said, was devised against the backdrop that as at the beginning of the 2024/2025 financial year, Lobatse Town Council was owed rates amounting to over P23 million but collection stood at slightly above P3 million on outstanding arrears.

This he noted, was a serious concern adding that collection for this financial year stood at slightly above P1 million which was 20 per cent against the targeted P5 million.

He therefore anticipated that the FNB App would enable real-time payment, yield higher collection rate and improve customer compliance.

Furthermore, mayor Ganakgomo highlighted that the tight fiscal environment at national and local level demanded more proficiency and prudence in managing the limited resources as underscored during 2026 Budget Speech.

Nonetheless, he said even though the council was faced with financial challenges in the previous quarters, they had been able to execute their core mandate, owing to austerity measures they undertook in managing cash flow and strengthening revenue base.

He announced that this year, Lobatse Town Council performed well in revenue collection as of January 2026 to date as collection stood at P151 million against the targeted income of P165 million; a 92 per cent collection rate.

The excellent performance, he said reflected confidence in the council’s ability to continue delivering essential services effectively.

With regards to the introduction of an FNB App for revenue collection, Peleng Central Councillor Mr Stephen Mpofu welcomed the development.

In an interview on the side-lines of the full council meeting, he said the App would make payment easier for customers and reduce long queues which wasted valuable time and travel costs.

He noted that the digitisation of the payment would also reduce too much paperwork and save government some costs.

In addition, Councillor Mpofu buttressed that customers had the option of selecting fixed online deposits which would enable them to better budget.

Nominated councillor Mr Gofaone Kedise, said Lobatse Town Council was owed over P35 million in property rates.

“We are talking digitisation of government services and therefore, anything credible that can help us to collect rates is a welcome initiative. The people must not fail to pay rates because we have not availed payment platforms,” he said.

He highlighted that councils which were funded by government through the revenue support grant and were required to sustain itself through generating Own Revenue Source must deliver quality services to the people.

He said such finances covered statutory services which the council must offer which include infrastructure development, waste management, and social services, highlighting that if property rates were not paid it could affect service delivery.

Thus, he emphasised that it was important for customers to pay property rates and service levies through available online platforms to enable the council to effectively deliver services. BOPA