Goodhope sub-district council buys Fong Kong vehicles
Staff Writer | Friday July 20, 2018 14:55
Critics of the Fong Kong tag have sneered at the idea, saying the step was a drawback as culture all along has been to procure brand new vehicles from genuine car dealerships,
Goodhope sub-district council’s chief executive officer, Robert Rabasimane admitted his sub-district had acquired the six vehicles from Mogoditshane, but hailed them as good secondhand cars they got on a bargain.
He argued that for the half-a-million pula that they had secured for the vehicles, they could not have managed to buy even a single brand new car had they insisted on business as usual.
“First of all, this is not the funds that belonged to the sub-district. We requested for the funds from the two constituencies MPs to enable our sub-district to carry out constituency projects for the two constituencies of Goodhope-Mabule and Molapowabojang-Mmathethe,” he said. “We had identified that shortage of vehicles was hampering the monitoring and consultation in the two constituencies for the implementation of the constituency projects; we were given P250,000 each by the two constituencies and using our own tact and strategy, we managed to procure three vehicles for each of the two constituencies.
These are, a mini-truck known locally as Matshelonyana, a mini-bus, and a Toyota Surf station wagon. The results had been enormous. We have been the first sub-district to complete the constituency projects on schedule.
As we speak, we have already concluded consultation for the next badge of constituency projects for our two constituencies, thanks to those Fong Kongs,” Rabasimane said, defending his sub-district’s choice.
The Goodhope sub-District head said even though they might be the only sub-district authority to procure the so-called Fong Kongs, people should not forget that all the district councils a few years ago had Matshelonyana trucks donated by the Japanese Embassy for use at their fire stations. “So in a way, we are not doing anything odd.”
However, Rabasimane said the vehicles remain the property of the two constituencies, and that they have been rightly emblazoned with the words, ‘Constituency Projects’ to indicate their purpose.