Gaborone darkness worries Cllrs

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Thursday March 26, 2015 17:47

Their call followed city mayor Kagiso Thutlwe’s revelation on Monday that this year, the Gaborone City Council had invested P23,630,000 to maintain the municipality’s electrical infrastructure.

Debating on the mayor’s speech yesterday, specially elected councillor Macdonald Peloetetse noted that the capital city is dark due to non-functional streetlights.

“Something needs to be done about Gaborone. Most of the streetlights are not working and this encourages crime in the city. We cannot have a situation where our capital city is dark and smelly. I hope you are going to talk to council officials that some of our electrical officers should work on shifts,” Peloetetse said.

Tsogang ward councillor Tetelo Thebe concurred, noting that many residents had fallen victim to crime on dark streets due to faulty streetlights.

Thebe said council is faced with a lot of challenges especially that there is no electricity and water in the capital city.

“I believe that a lot needs to be done when it comes to crime. Some of my residents are now attacked at Tsholofelo Park because council is not taking good care of it. That is the reason why I had asked council to convert it into a sports facility so that it could benefit the council,” Thebe said.

Councillor for Naledi Central at Gaborone South constituency, Mosimanegape Basalumi said he is concerned about the BURS stop, where thieves were known to terrorise people. “The lights inserted by council to scare thieves have not been working for months now. The issue of robots, which are not always working, is a serious problem for the city. Accidents are also increasing because of the robots that are not working,” Basalumi said. He appealed to the council to fix electrical problems and to also deal with maintenance issues, including potholes. Thutlwe agreed that the current state of streetlights is disturbing and is likely to scare away potential investors. He said Gaborone is a cosmopolitan city and the economic beehive of Botswana.

Recently the minister of Defence, Justice and Security Shaw Kgathi told Parliament that significant reductions were recorded in respect of violent and intrusive crimes, which comprise robbery and attempts, house breaking and theft, burglary and theft, store breaking and theft, murder and attempts, rape and attempts, threat to kill, stock theft and theft of motor vehicle.