FCC denies BALA, GL event boycott
Patricia Edwin | Wednesday April 2, 2014 10:59
Francistown deputy mayor Joyce Ndove, who is a commissioner in GL, came out spitting venom saying she was disappointed at the way the FCC treated the event, which took place between March 24 and 28.
She said it has become apparent that the council and councillors were not keen to participate in events that have anything to do with BALA.
The theme of the summit was 50/50 by 2015: demanding a strong post-2015 agenda and ending gender based violence (GBV) by 2015.
That the relationship between BALA and FCC is not all rosy is no secret. At the last congress councillors made it clear that they were not impressed with the way (BALA) handled business.
They labelled BALA a cesspool of corrupt practices, which is only out to fleece them of their hard-earned money.
Ever since then, the council has not been eager to say anything positive about BALA.
Besides Ndove expressing her disappointment at the FCC during her keynote address, specially nominated councillor, Masego Pule attended the summit while another councillor, Robert Mosweu, had excused himself on the grounds of ill-health. As for other councillors, Ndove could not account for their absence because they knew that the summit was scheduled for that week.
“We do not have the support of the council when it comes to events involving BALA and GL, and it is really worrying,” she said.
She said that there were no focal persons, gender champions or even women commissioners from Francistown to attend the summit.
“We have that problem where people in the council have a negative attitude towards BALA and GL.
“Councillors themselves are not keen to be involved with anything concerning BALA. When you talk of BALA, councillors think you are talking about money and they want nothing to do with it,” said Ndove.
Councils such as Chobe, North East, Selebi-Phikwe and others presented at the summit on various issues.
There was an award-winning ceremony towards the end of the summit and still FCC was nowhere to be seen.
Ndove said that they did not present on any topic because of the attitude that they do not want to be involved.
She said that she hoped that FCC would be represented at the summit that will be held in Gaborone on April 14.
“We do not even have any project that we are working on. We are trying to change that and see how we can reconcile issues here and have something to present at the summit in Gaborone,” she said.
However, when Mmegi contacted City Clerk Leboile Israel on Tuesday, he said that both officers and councillors took issues of gender seriously, which is why they have a gender committee.
He said that there was no deliberate move not to attend the conference, and the committee is now meeting to rectify the situation and forge a way forward.
“It was a mistake that happened because the committee had been dormant, but there was an officer who was supposed to go but fell ill and was on sick-leave,” he added. He further said that the deputy mayor and another councillor were there representing the whole council. Israel further said that at the moment they on the issue so that they can also make a presentation at the Gaborone summit.