10 Dec 2015

Moshupa deputy district commissioner, Ms Berenice Berman-Mosime says the Moshupa Sub-district leadership is duty bound to develop villages within their jurisdiction.

Speaking during the deputy commissioner’s meeting with dikgosi, Village Extension Teams and Village Development Committees of the Moshupa Sub-district, she challenged them to play an active role in the development of the sub-region.

She pleaded with attendants to engage in community services such as household chores for the elderly or the sick as well as donating old clothes to those in need if spending money was an issue.

She appealed to dikgosi to ask for assistance from local churches and business people to help the needy in the sub-district.

Regarding the Economic Stimulus Programme, Ms Berman-Mosime noted that five areas have been identified, adding that they were building construction, road construction, tourism development, agriculture production and manufacturing. She said all these were meant to create jobs for Batswana and develop the country. She further said that through the Economic Stimulus Programme, residents of the district would be able to tender for any developmental projects as priority would be given to locals.

Ms Berman-Mosime said she always gets complaints that tenders were awarded to people who were not locals as such not adhering to the requirements of the tender and price variation.

She advised farmers to produce not only for consumption, but also for commercial purposes. She further said products such as watermelons could be processed and packaged into jams, adding that institutions such as the National Food Technology Research Centre (NFTRC) exist to advise on matters related to agricultural processing.

Answering a question from Mr Phemelo Sejabosigo, Diratsame Senior Secondary School head in Moshupa about measures that were in place to hasten maintenance of the school since it has not gone under any ever since it was built in 1996, she said more money would be given to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to maintain the buildings and building of classrooms where there was a shortage.

According to Moshupa Sub-district senior development officer, Mr Mpho Leboane, 209 projects have been submitted to the sub district project team after the October visits that were done in the sub district to inquire about what they need.

He said projects would be vetted in Parliament for the 11^th National Development Plan next year. He clarified that projects would be prioritised according to location and scarcity of needs. Ends