20 Mar 2014

The Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe has handed over Poverty Eradication Programme monitoring fleet worth over P12.5 million to the Minister for Public Administration and Presidential Affairs, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Handing over the fleet on Thursday, March 20, Dr Kedikilwe stated that purchasing of the 22 vehicles was reflective of sustained and specific political commitment of government to provide adequate resources in the continued fight against poverty.

He commended departments responsible for addressing the challenges hampering them to deliver on their objectives by securing the fleet. Dr Kedikilwe said resources such as transport were needed to achieve the goals and objectives of eradicating abject poverty.

He acknowledged that transport was, however, not the only challenge the programme was faced with, citing other challenges such as shortage of water.

Furthermore, he urged the officers responsible to ensure that the vehicles remained in good condition, imploring them to continue assisting each other with transport in cases where there could be shortage.

The beneficiaries of the programme, he said, would now be motivated to deliver on their projects, since they would receive assistance from the poverty eradication office without delay.

The Vice President further said it would enable the officers responsible to reach out to people to ensure monitoring and evaluation of the programme, which was needed to evaluate whether progress was on or off track.

When receiving the fleet, Minister Masisi noted that the purchasing of the vehicles demonstrated government’s commitment to fight abject poverty.

He said shortage of transport had since been an issue of concern in achieving the mandate of the programme as noted in various kgotla meetings, stating that success of the flagship programme highly depended on the availability of resources, including transport.

Therefore, he said availability of transport would enable implementing ministries among others agriculture, local government and rural development, labour and home affairs as well as environment, wildlife and tourism to explore unexploited potential and hidden resources across the country.

The fleet included 10 trucks, five Toyota land cruisers, six D4Ds (Hi Lux) and one Prado. The fleet would be distributed to various implementing ministries. Ends