04 Dec 2024

The killing of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) infected livestock as a disease containment measure impoverishes farmers of the affected area, hence government should in future seek alternatives to control the spread of the diseases without disadvantaging farmers, says Tati East Member of Parliament.

Mr Tlhabologo Furniture said on Tuesday when debating the State-of-the-Nation Address,  pointing out that previously, government took a decision to kill cattle in North East to control FMD but such came with huge costs to the farming community.

He argued that the government should have sealed off the affected zone and controlled the diseases until it attained the green zone status and meat from that particular zone be consumed within the area only.

Government should have tapped into the Botswana Vaccine Institute expertise to control the disease spread, Mr Furniture added.

Still on farming, he said government ought to consider turning Ditladi farms in his constituency into a special economic zone, because horticultural farmers in the area had demonstrated potential and only needed government support.

Mr Furniture complained about gravel roads linking villages in his constituency saying, they needed tarring. 

He said the area also experienced shortage of water albeit being close to water sources.

Cross-border crime which affected mostly farmers was another setback cited by the MP.

Specially Elected Member of Parliament, Ms Lesego Chombo welcomed the idea of National Housing Strategy saying it would ensure the creation of jobs by and for young people in the construction industry.

Turning to the education sector, she said the system needed to be reformed, strengthened and reviewed to produce a market ready workforce.

Ms Chombo who also is the Minister of Youth and Gender Affairs said the national youth policy was under review, to be inclusive of emerging issues.

She said the overall objective of the new policy, was to address issues and challenges affecting young people, their empowerment, and embodied Setswana values of Botho, human rights, peace and peaceful resolution of conflict.

“This policy will place the primary responsibility on parents, to inculcate these values,” she said.

For his part, MP for Takatokwane and also Minister of Sports and Arts Mr Jacob Kelebeng said the constituency was poverty stricken with most of its community members living below the poverty datum line.

He also spoke about poor education facilities in the constituency, noting that Mahupu Unified School was dilapidated, overcrowded, without a school nurse and faced with shortage of food.

Mr Kelebeng said the nearest hospital where constituents could go to for medical assistance was more than 200 kilometers away while clinics in the area operated without an ambulance, issues he hoped the new government would address.

The constituency is faced with infrastructure development, Mr Kelebeng said and added that hopefully those that were promised would eventually materialize.

He implored performing artists to be cautious with language and not demean others under the pretext that artists enjoy immunity from their work. 

Some words used by artists, he said, might be construed as demeaning other tribes. 

He said government had chosen a human rights based approach and therefore, that must to be respected by all as the country’s unifying factor.

The MP promised the return of school sport saying it served as a platform to unearth talent, as well as to engage with teachers with hope to address their grievances. Ends