Debswana hands over Zwenshambe community hall
James Kgosi | Wednesday June 25, 2014 06:59
After revamping the facility to the tune of P292,000, Debswana managing director Balisi Bonyongo handed it over to the village.
Bonyongo hailed Zwenshambe residents for their collective efforts geared at developing their village. He urged them to keep the good spirit, which he said is fast disappearing in other communities.
“I thank all those involved in village development and must in particular applaud the involvement of the village youth in their village’s development. I urge you to keep the good work up. This spirit of togetherness is enviable as in other communities elders complain of the destructive behaviours of the youth,” he said.
Bonyongo said his company has set aside P15 million for social investment to carry out projects whose main objective is to improve communities’ livelihoods. He said they are more willing to assist communities realise their dreams provided the individual communities contribute something to the partnership.
Bonyongo expressed concern that although diamonds benefit the nation, there are serious concerns of diamond theft, which is detrimental to the development and encouraged residents to help curb theft of the scarce resource.
Accepting the hall on behalf of an appreciative community, village elder, Peter Woto said Debswana has always been a partner in the village’s developments.
He cited the community hall, the village secondary school and the Zwenshambe brigade as entities that were built with the assistance of the company.
The village youth representative for Zwenshambe constituency ward, Anita Sithelo shared Woto’s sentiments and added that the hall is important for the youth and they will put it to good use.
She said the challenges of staging constituency arts competitions in far-flung areas would be a thing of the past as the hall is now available for use for entertainment purposes. The village councillor, Khazi Motswakae thanked residents for their cooperation and urged them to keep working together for the good of the village.