Govt promises Kgalagadi South residents developments

ZOLANI KRAAI
Correspondent | Thursday March 21, 2013 00:00

 

He further told residents that the whole process  where he informed residents about the curriculum and infrastructure design of the school will commence later this year. Khama was responding to Kgosi Seetelo II Toto who in his welcome remarks briefed the president about their development pleas which haven't been attended to. He noted that one was the need to have a secondary school in the district.

Macha Senior Secondary School caters for children from as far away as Bokspits, Rappelspan, Vaalhoek, Struizendam (BORAVEST) villages and this has impacted negatively on the welfare of learners who are forced to travel long distances to get to school, Toto pointed out.Tsabong West Village Development Committee (VDC) Chairperson Wilpard Kapeko had raised concern that the water tariffs are too high compared to when Water Affairs was still at the helm of matters.

He further said that Water Utilities Corporation officials in Tsabong are never prompt to inform them of water crises in the village except when they are disconnecting water services. In response to the complaints the Minister of Minerals Energy and Water Resources Kitso Mokaila told the residents that he is aware of the water shortage situation in Tsabong.  He told them that there are currently nine boreholes but four are not in use. In response to the water tariff query, he said the only thing that changed when WUC took over was the connection fees.

For his part, Khama told residents that he would assign a team to assess the water situation in Tsabong and his response came after an embarrassing moment when two officials from WUC and Water Affairs were put on the spotafter they were summoned by Mokaila to the floor to give further explanation of the water crisis. Both officials gave contradictory statements while the Water Affairs official said he had long handed over borehole number 9048 to WUC and as such he is not sure of what the situation is. 

Meanwhile, Khama agreed with concerns raised by Thono Kono a public servant based in Kgalagadi who had asked the President to assist in addressing the issue of separating married couples who live away from each other due to long distance transfers. Kono had informed the President that the separation of couples leads to escalation of divorce cases in Botswana.Khama concurred with Kono's statement, noting that it was improper for married couples to live apart.He, however, noted that in some cases one spouse works for the private sector, which makes it difficult to negotiate transfers. 'Nna tota ga kena experience ka dimarried couples...' said Khama to the audience's excited laughter.

Daniel Matlale a Kgalagadi Land Board employee, informed the President that they are made to retire travel imprest early in four days than the expected 14 days and if they have not retired the imprest within the Kgalagadi Land Board regulations that they were surcharged P200. President said that this practice was improper and should stop.For his part, the Director of the Department of Public Service Management Cater Morupisi informed workers that government has finalised transfer guidelines which will assist Permanent Secretaries when considering transfer of staff. With regard to overtime, Morupisi explained to public servants that overtime payments sometimes get delayed because some officers have developed a tendency of authorising them fro themselves. He also informed them that there is an arrangement for a worker to be paid half of the overtime amount and be given leave for the remaining hours worked.