Face the press; emulate Mokaila
Mmegi Editor | Friday September 4, 2015 15:17
This shortage is likely to result in closure of some companies, job losses, relocation of investors to other countries, and even a recession.
To a larger extent the government is to take blame for this mess, equally as climate change. The government is to blame for not being extra careful in selecting the company that built the Morupule B Power Station.
Amid all this, the minister for Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Kitso Mokaila, has not buried his head in the sand wishing the problem to go away.
He has taken every opportunity available to face the press and tell the nation what is going on; why things are like this and what his ministry is doing to address the problems.
Since the beginning of the year, and even in the previous years, he has always come forward to face the people. We do no want to believe he is doing this because he wants to be loved by journalists, or wants to be on television, or in newspaper pages. He must be coming clean because he has a conscience, which tells him that people should hear from the horse’s mouth why their taps are running dry; why there is no electricity and what his ministry is doing to rectify the situation.
Just yesterday, Mokaila called journalists, once again, to explain the challenges they are facing to bring water from the dams in the northern part, to the southern part of the country.
He made admissions that his ministry did not anticipate the current drought, the drought which can be traced back three years.
This drought has left dry all the dams in the southern part of the country.
In addition, the drought has affected Molatedi dam in South Africa, making it impossible for us to continue importing the volume of water we used to import.
As we continue to wake up in the mornings to dry taps, standing in long queues to draw water from water bowsers, let us hope that we shall come out of this mess one day.
Let us also remember that there are still a few individuals like Mokaila who are brave enough to face the angry citizens to explain problems and admit that things could have been done better.
We hope that other cabinet ministers, heads of departments in government offices, will take a leaf from Mokaila, and be brave to face the nation even if it is bad news they are to deliver.
We can only hope Mokaila’s act, on the eve of a planned demonstration to demand water and power by the opposition, is genuine. The nation is angry but also hopeful, and forgiving.
Today’s thought
“We are trying to be as transparent and open as possible”
-Kitso Mokaila