27 Mar 2014

Crossing at Bokspits border post to nearby villages in South Africa used to be routine for Mr Hans Hendricks of Vaalhoek.

He went there for services such as faxing and photocopying documents or printing funeral programmes. It was not like he had a choice. If he had, he would not have crossed the border. Consequently, it was in 2010 when the lives of Vaalhoek residents and Mr Hendricks’ changed for the better.

That blessing came in the form of a Kitsong Centre, a caravan branded with Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) colours was handed over to the village leaders and it now stands majestically near the kgotla -- installed with computers, fax and photocopying machines. To say that Mr Hendricks, who is a member of the Village Development Committee (VDC), is a happy man for the initiative would be an understatement.

“The project was handed over to VDC to run on behalf of the community,” he says. Besides computers, fax and photocopying machines, the package included be-Mobile airtime and sim cards to raise funds for the community.

Today, the VDC has broadened its scope to incorporate other services such as charging of mobile phones, laptops and other utilities to augment the money raised from IT services. “We also sell note books, pens and sweets among other things,” says Mr Hendricks.

With the proceeds, the organisation pays for utilities and staff allowances. The remainder goes into the VDC account, then for use to benefit all Vaalhoek residents. Thanks to the unrelenting support of the community, Mr Hendricks says the initiative is a welcome development to the village and already VDC is making some money from the wares sold.

Not only did BTC provide Vaalhoek with the package but also took some of the villagers through the ropes on information technology.Of the four people trained on business management and computer basics at Bokspits and Mochudi respectively, one has been employed permanently to manage the project.

“We could not employ all due to financial constraints,” he says. Like any enterprise, running the project came with its pitfalls; some include travelling long distances to Gaborone to purchase inks for the machines. “We also do not have transport to run our business.”

While, Mr Hendricks acknowledges the generosity of BTC, he says they have no support from the corporation as it hardly visits to monitor the running of the project. Struizendum is also another village whose successful running of their Kitsong Centre deserves a pat on the back.

Launched in 2012, VDC chairperson, Mr Klein Matthys, says they have broaden their scope following the commissioning of the project by introducing other services such as charging of torches, cellphones and other electrical appliances, designing and printing of wedding and funeral programmes, among other things. Mr Matthys, who is elated that the project is yielding positive results, says they are in the process of arranging with BTC and Botswana Power Corporation to get relevant information on how to sell electricity to prepaid customers in the community.

Also, the intention is to turn their telecentre into a full-fledged centre by introducing other services. While the project is still up and running in Khuis, Mr Hansel Itaoleng, the VDC chairperson, says they have a number of challenges to overcome. The computers crash frequently making it impossible to service the community while BTC is not honouring its commitment to the initiative.

“When we call them for assistance, they take their time which demotivates us and makes us lose money in the process,” he says. Mr Itaoleng says internet is unreliable, hence the VDC does not make money as anticipated. But for expansion purposes, he says they are looking at introducing a number of services such as laminating documents and having photography sections where they can take pictures and print them, among other things.

It was a different story altogether at Bokspits where the facility was no longer operational. The challenges they faced forced them to close temporarily until they had sourced funds to resuscitate the project. Ms Lorato Raditedu, Bokspits VDC chairperson, says the project which was commissioned in 2011, operated for a year and had been closed since because of shortage of ink which they had challenges finding it.
“It was in 2012 that VDC decided to close the facility since there was no money coming in to pay the employee engaged.”

Though the community was against the closure of the telecentre, she says they had no choice since there was no money coming in.Also, she says the people they wanted to engage wanted to be paid exorbitant salaries hence they settled for one person. However, all is not lost as a fund-raising committee has been set up to raise funds to revive the project. “We have already contacted other stakeholders to lend a helping hand,” she says.

Head of corporate communications at Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), Mr Golekanye Molapisi, says the operation of the centres by VDC’s poses a great challenge. The model adopted for use by VDC’s to run the Kitsong Centres, he reckons, has challenges as those that were trained have since left for greener pastures.

“This is due to the fact that VDC members are volunteers hence the tendency not to be accountable to the committee.” Since most of the centres do not generate much revenue, he says, volunteers entrusted with running the centres do not make much money hence they look for better options elsewhere.

Also, Mr Molapisi points out that some villages have small populations and no other facilities such as school and clinics making sources of money limited, therefore limiting the amount of money in circulation which affects the revenue and subsequently the operations of the centres. He notes that vandalism, especially on solar panels, is a serious challenge which makes sustaining the project expensive.

He says BTC trained all personnel in business skills and that an initial start-up stock was provided to all centres to assist in getting the centres off the ground. Commitment has been made to train all new office bearers who will come as a result of change of VDC’s committees.

“Maintenance support is being carried out in all centres as when they get reported and a dedicated call centre line of 127 has been established for use by the centres to report all faults and enquiries at the centres and they are manned by trained personnel to handle all nature of reports 24hrs.”

Already, he says, they are working on a rehabilitation plan with the department of telecommunications and postal services and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture with the possibility of using the youth to run the centres as opposed to VDCs. There are 149 Kitsong centres countrywide. Ends