16 Oct 2024

Periodic national updates on how government is progressing in discharging its mandate are important and make for good governance, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has said.

“We are here to account as government. Prior to being given the mandate to govern five years ago, we had made promises to you and it is only appropriate that we account on how we have fared on delivering on those,” he said during a kgotla meeting in Lobatse yesterday.

Dr Masisi said as the mandate to govern that they assumed in 2019 was drawing to a close, he saw it fit to thank Batswana for according them the opportunity to serve them.

He said over the past five years, a lot had been achieved particularly on the infrastructure development front.

Completed and ongoing water infrastructure projects across the country was proof of government’s commitment to make good on the promises it had laid before Batswana.

Dr Masisi said other vital sectors of the economy including agriculture and mining had also seen government dedicate considerable resources to their evolution, one of the targeted outcomes of such efforts being to enable them to address some of the country’s long-standing challenges such as unemployment.

Zoning in on Lobatse, he said the resuscitation of major projects like the Lobatse Clay Works, Milk Afric and the Lobatse Leather Park would revitalise the town’s economy in many ways including through the creation of job opportunities.

He said shortage of water in the town had been a contributing factor that had led to the closure of the mentioned projects, but assured residents that with government having aggressively fought to avail adequate water to Lobatse, it was expected that the operations of the three entities would proceed unhindered going forward.

President Masisi further appealed to citizens to be industrious, cautioning them that adopting a laissez faire attitude to work not only lowered productivity but that it was oftentimes the cause of poverty.

“There is no other way to becoming wealthy except through hard work. But with the poor ethic that you continue to exhibit, you run the risk of losing what could be rightfully yours to people from elsewhere,” he said, responding to a resident who had complained that citizen-owned companies were overlooked during awarding of major projects.

He said since the adoption of the Development Manager Model, Development Managers in charge of the implementation of some infrastructure development projects had raised concern about the poor work ethic of local contractors and workers in general.

This, Dr Masisi said was a slap on the face on government’s efforts aimed at encouraging and supporting citizen involvement in the country’s economy.

Moreover, President Masisi implored the public to use the free high-speed Internet that government had availed to power themselves on to greatness.

He said it was worrying that some were using it to spread misinformation rather than to better their lives.

Minister of Lands and Water Affairs, Dr Kefentse Mzwinila said the commissioning of Package 2 of the Lobatse Water Masterplan project signalled the end of Lobatse’s water woes.

He said with a daily demand of 21 million litres of water, the town’s water supply had stood at 13 million litres per day for a long time, presenting an eight million litre per day deficit.

He shared similar sentiments that the adequate supply to Lobatse that had been made possible through reticulation of water from the Masama Well Fields to the Mmamashia Water Treatment Plant for subsequent distribution would be an important anchor to the operations of Milk Afric, Lobatse Clay Works and the Lobatse Leather Park as well as other important projects.

Dr Mzwinila said it was gratifying that the Lobatse Water Masterplan, which entailed the construction of a 92 million litres reservoir located at Forest Hill on the outskirts of the town, had been completed on time and within budget.

A resident, Mr Solly Diphoko thanked government for developments that he said were reaching the people of Lobatse and the entire citizenry at a rapid pace. Mr Diphoko however complained that citizen contractors were hardly awarded major projects, resulting in them being spectators of the economic activities of the country.

Mr Gobusakgabo Baabina commended President Masisi for doing the utmost to address joblessness in the country, saying his job creation efforts were out in the open for all to see. ENDS