Miscommunication dogs civic meeting
Koketso Kgoboge | Friday June 12, 2020 13:02
The council session started at least two hours late at the Majestic Five Hotel after the council leadership came out from a closed-door meeting at the hotel.
Some key agenda items of the council business were put on hold until Wednesday and other stakeholders were excused from the session to allow for an all-party caucus.
The council was initially scheduled to convene at the Palapye Community Hall (PCH), but the councillors shunned the old facility expressing discomfort, the PAA senior assistant council secretary Lucky Maoto revealed.
The meeting had to be moved to the Majestic Five Hotel, as the usual PAA venue was deemed too small to accommodate social distancing protocols; hence the meeting was moved to a different place.
Maoto said they had arranged the PCH venue as the last resort after being turned down at various alternative venues including Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) and Palapye police station.
He said they also hit brick walls at different hotels where they had requested for assistance, including Majestic Five where the meeting finally convened yesterday.
“The council met at the community hall but the business of the council could not take off because the councillors dismissed the venue expressing discomfort,” Maoto said.
The councillors accused the senior council secretary (SACS) of poor work relationship with the councillors, claiming he makes decisions without consulting them. His sin is that he prepared the community hall without their (councillors’) input and imposed the venue on them despite reservations.
Khurumela ward councillor George Makhura said the community hall had no air conditioning thus unsuitable in the winter council session.
He said they had previously warned that the facility was not suitable to some of their comrades with various health challenges.
Makhura, however, claimed that despite their efforts to convene, they were not given feedback as to why the business of the council could not go ahead.
“We were not given real reasons. We were called inside, we prayed and the session was adjourned,” he said.
The civic leader also suspected there was a poor working relationship between SACS and the council chairperson Khumoyame Lekoko.
“How would SACS take such decisions against our interests without informing the chairperson?” he quipped rhetorically.
“That goes to show he is not working well with the council and the council chairperson. These are the reasons they did everything during the COVID-19 period without consulting the councillors.”
Maunatlala councillor Salome Lesole also claimed that she was in the dark regarding what could have transpired on the first day of the council seating.
“I am waiting to be informed of what happened. I had received an agenda that the meeting would be convened at the community hall. I found the hall prepared and ready for the meeting only for the meeting to be adjourned without reasons,” she said.
Councillor Gabagopole Sebele of Lerala who agreed with his colleagues said the issue was borne from miscommunication between SACS and council chairperson.
“I was absent but after consultations, the matter was sorted. It was a simple issue of communication. We have advised as leaders on how to proceed and everything is in place, the council will continue,” Sebele who is also the Central District Council deputy chairperson said.