25 Nov 2024

Despite contributing significantly to the GDP, Boteti still lag behind in basic infrastructure such as roads and health facilities, which also includes shortage of health personnel and medicines.

This was said by Boteti East legislator, Mr Keoagile Atamelang when making contributions to the State-Of-Nation-Address (SONA) recently.

Mr Atamelang, who is also the Assistant Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, labelled Boteti  as an “epitome of poverty.’

“In a radius of 15km in Boteti, you will find a person who is without food, a person who survives on less than P600 monthly,” he said.

He also said there was  high unemployment rate in his constituency.

“The national unemployment rate is about 27.6 per cent, with 38 per cent of that being the youth,” said Mr Atamelang.

He however, said that he took solace in that the ruling Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) had indicated that it would make such challenges a priority.

Meanwhile, in his contribution to SONA, Tswapong South legislator, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang said that his constituency needed access to the Limpopo river, which he described as a gold mine for the area.

“The past immediate administration had promised us that it will buy some of the farms to enable people access to the river, and we hope that this administration will inherit that promise,” he said.

Dr Gobotswang also complained about shortage of water in the area despite connections from the main vein in Mahalapye having been completed.

He also said that as the Botswana Congress Party, they were happy that the Umbrella for Democratic Change won power.

“We are particularly happy because we shared many priorities in our campaigns, such as a holistic constitutional review and electoral reforms, so it should be easier to achieve such,” he said.

Dr Gobotswang also implored the ruling party to come out clear on whether it would wholly inherit, partly review or totally scrap off initiatives of the past administration such as Temo Letlotlo, Thuo Letlotlo and Maja-A-Ikgorosa.

He said that was important more so that there was a need to come up with specific initiatives that targeted farmers of different scales. Dr Gobotswang also appreciated President Duma Boko’s  message on the importance of national unity post elections.

He said there was a concern in the past where the country was seemingly divided by allegiance on presidents, which he said influenced employment opportunities. ENDS