06 Oct 2024

Collaboration with the private sector has borne fruits for the North West district with the region achieving sustainable developments.

The North West District Council (NWDC) chairperson, Mr Itumeleng Kelebetseng said in an interview that by adopting mindset change, the district leadership was able to cultivate a culture of community involvement, forged partnerships and collaboration with private sector and created a thriving business environment that brought about economic diversification in the district.

Mr Kelebetseng was happy that some companies operating in the district had prioritised education.

He cited Elephant Havens Foundation, a non-government organisation that protects orphaned elephants, which had adopted Shorobe Primary School.

 The company’s administration officer, Ms Kefilwe Shapa confirmed that since opening office in 2018, they had invested over P5 million towards community projects as part of giving back to the people.

Ms Shapa said the company had refurbished Shorobe Primary School by putting new ceiling and painting classrooms.  She said they donated furniture, full school uniform to all learners, as well as setting up a computer laboratory and furnished it with laptops to expose pupils to the digital space.

“We also managed to refurbish the historic classroom built in the early 60s in collaboration with council and the classroom is currently used for reception class. We believe that education is the foundation of excellence,” she added.

The foundation also provided two large tents to address shortage of classrooms, constructed a block of water system toilets and also renovated the existing ablution block and secured a school bus for learners travelling long distance.

They have also acquired school bus for Machaba ward children and drilled boreholes for Gabamochaa community to ensure residents enjoyed potable water.

Another company that continues to make a positive impact on the community is the Wild Impact, initially known as Africa Foundation together with their And Beyond collaborative partner.

The two companies have been instrumental in instilling hope among the isolated communities of Gogomoga and Tsutsubega.

Their livelihood is totally dependent on cultivating land and rearing of livestock.  Wild Impact and And Beyond drilled boreholes for these communities.

And Beyond also donated and adopted Sexaxa Primary School and constructed three classroom blocks, ablution block and a kitchen. Wild Impact managing director, Mr Skipper Mareja said they came on board because government alone could not manage to meet all needs of the communities.

He said they saw it fit to fund construction of a school at Sexaxa since children had to travel more than 10km per day to access education at Matlapana in Maun.

Mareja said they did not aide communities only, but also assisted government through the department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) in relocation of rhinos from South Africa to Botswana and also donated equipment such as cameras and tents to the department to monitor the species

Last year, he said they donated multi-purpose drone equipment worth over P200 000 to the department of wildlife in Maun to tackle wildlife crime-related activities.  “We have secured funding to further support the department to ensure they have proper equipment,” he added. ENDS