Jwaneng revives controversial bid to twin with US city
Lebogang Baingapi | Thursday September 7, 2017 13:20
Monkge’s predecessor, Tsietsi Oodira-Kwenje and the council management came under heavy criticism when councillors demanded an account of how P570,000 was spent on a benchmarking trip to the US and hosting of a Peoria delegation, without any results.
Jwaneng Town Council and Peoria signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2014 during the reign of former mayor, Amos Jahana but the relationship went cold with Oodira-Kwenje saying he had made “countless calls” to the Americans to fulfil the agreement, without response.
On Tuesday, in a full council meeting, new mayor Monkge said reviving the twinning deal was one of his immediate goals. He said already, a breakthrough had been made in communicating with the Americans.
“Jwaneng has been able to reignite communication with the city of Peoria. Currently the Sister City Commission is working on carrying out the efforts made by the MoU which was signed by the leadership of the two organisations to agree on the proposed areas of cooperation.
“We will also agree on the proposed areas of cooperation which will lead to a Memorandum of Agreement and set in motion programmes that will enhance service delivery,” Monkge said.
The mayor said a local assessment was being carried out to profile Jwaneng and strengthen its ability to attract strategic partners of international repute. Monkge called on fellow councillors to provide assurance of their full support to the twinning programme.
However, Ngami ward councillor Bankinyana Montsiemang said public funds had previously been wasted on a relationship that had not benefited Jwaneng Town Council in any way.
“I still believe that little research was done before a delegation of staff and councillors were sent to the USA for benchmarking. This should be a wake-up call for the house to be careful and account for public funds,” he said.
For his part, specially elected councillor, Benjamin Bakwena said he was looking forward to a new bid to twin with the US city. He called on the new committee to work together to ensure sound delivery of the initiative.