26 Jun 2013

Government will build 194 houses for rural communities in all 67 settlements during the 2013/2014 financial year.

Addressing kgotla meetings in Ngwatle and Monong settlements in the Hukuntsi Sub-district, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso said government was concerned about the poor living conditions in rural areas, hence its action to provide decent houses to the under-privileged.   

Majority of people in rural areas, she said, were living under dreadful conditions and the provision of shelter would restore their dignity and instill a sense of belonging. She said decent shelter was one of the basic fundamental necessities of life because lack of shelter undermined self-esteem and inhibited people from having a positive approach to life.

Ms Tshireletso underscored the need to empower rural communities to be self- reliant, especially that they faced high poverty rates.  “Rural communities have in the past been sidelined due to their remoteness and sometimes their ethnicity, government has decided to come up with affirmative action as a way of doing away with certain bottlenecks that could hinder RAD’s empowerment,” she said.

Affirmative action, she said, remained viable towards development of remote area communities because of the social-economic hindrances they faced which resulted from their geographical location and distance from social amenities.

Ms Tshireletso said the Rural Area Development Programme (RADP) aimed at eradicating poverty amongst the remote area communities and to empower the RADs to build sustainable livelihoods that could guarantee them a bright future.

Residents of the two settlements applauded government’s poverty eradication initiative, highlighting that such were a clear testimony of a government that cared for its citizenry. 

They applauded the Ipelegeng programme in particular saying that it had addressed the high unemployment rate that was a major challenge in many settlements because of lack of job opportunities. ENDS