Dimpho Mashaba: UDC ready for change
Onalenna Kelebeile | Friday August 22, 2014 16:05
“Our people, especially the youth are ready for change and they are coming out to stand up and be counted. Never in the history of this town have we ever seen its residents so enthusiastic about their role in nation building and in politics.
He says “this is a sign that electorates refuse to allow our country to suffer a deficit of democracy, deterioration of good governance, corruption and looting, abuse of office, humiliation of civil servants, violation of human rights, erosion of civil liberties and a culture of fear.” Mashaba who is a member of Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) said Batswana are going to punish Botswana Congress Party (BCP) severely for splitting opposition votes.
“After being actively involved in both civic and political issues since my childhood, I have always sought to create effective change in Selebi-Phikwe East constituency. I now feel that the time has come for me to offer myself as a servant in the public arena,” he said.
His roadmap to transform the town of Selebi-Phikwe has been enshrined in five pillars, which are re-branding the town, stakeholder engagement, believing in ourselves, providing a cushion of goodwill and weaving the breadbasket of the nation. “Selebi-Phikwe needs to re-brand. This shall be a big part of our economic development and marketing plan to attract new businesses and create home-grown career opportunities.
He explained that the rural areas surrounding the town are not heavily populated and contain land and soils with the potential through irrigation or rainfed agriculture for the production of a wide range of commercial food crops. He said in terms of its location and infrastructure his constituency is an obvious location for marketing and downstream processing activities.
“There are other tourist attractions around the town, most of which are undeveloped. These include archaeological and historical sites such as Mothodi site and Mekoro Nature Park, which if properly developed they have the potential to bring diversity into the area and create jobs,” he added.
On the pillar of providing a cushion of goodwill, Mashaba explained that giving goodwill is one of the ways to develop feelings of loyalty and appreciation among business community, employees and electorates in general. He said the constituency office will partner with other stakeholders to give to charity and sponsor community activities.
“We pledge to assist the homeless to have decent shelter, the sick and elderly with all means possible as well as kids who dropped out of school. We will always build goodwill with our people by sponsoring community activities,” he said.
On the pillar of weaving the nation’s breadbasket he says they will establish a cutting-edge education system that churns productive citizens who also have initiative. “We will also restructure government functions to instil excellence, urgency and efficiency in the delivery of services. We will also reform economic management to revitalise, diversify, grow and fortify it and broaden citizen participation,” he said.
On stakeholder engagement Mashaba said he would encourage collaboration between civic leaders and other stakeholders such as unions, to provide the most important key to success in advancing the public purpose.
“I promise to work towards breaking down the institutional silos and barriers that have formally impeded the alignment of services in the town. I pledge to establish high performance constituency office with a unique value proposition that will guarantee that we can efficiently and effectively deliver on our mandate in a manner that is responsive to the needs of the electorate,” he noted.
He said the shelving of the College of Applied Arts and Technology has added to the economic and unemployment woes that have engulfed the town. He said the initial decision to build the college here raised the intensity of expectations that looked beyond the college gates for what it would inject into their lives. “The fatigued BDP government has also failed to sustain the town’s power station and that was another lost opportunity to infuse life into the town. The plant could have employed the youth and enabled us to generate more power cheaper than importing from South Africa,” he said.
Mashaba also accused government of ignoring economic empowerment and failing to address gender disparity issues and also using an uncivilised one-size-fits-all approach, which he said has crippled female-headed families. “There must be a policy aimed at women empowerment. As far as gender issues are concerned, they are not given deserved redress. The country is not getting any nearer to modernisation,” he complained.
Mashaba, who was born in Selebi-Phikwe previously worked for the Tertiary Education Council and is a businessman. He is also a founding member of Botshabelo Youth Alive Club. He is facing off with Molefhi of the ruling party, Kgoberego Nkawana of the BCP and independent candidate Oarabile Tshenyego.