I am a civil servant- Nzwaligwa

CALISTUS KOLANTSHO
Correspondent | Tuesday January 12, 2010 00:00

Nzwaligwa is now officially the administrator in Gilson Saleshando's office. In a recent interview he called upon residents of Selebi-Phikwe to utilise the office and 'stop associating it to any political party.' 

Nzwaligwa's hordes of supporters must brace themselves for a blackout of political talk for a while, until their man changes his status as a civil servant.

As a politician Nzwaligwa has always been associated with mudslinging and character assassination of his opponents.

He says the office is not sponsored by any political party, but by the government. The fiery politician also explains, 'I am just like any civil servant governed by general orders and I comply with all the regulations.' In an interview with Mmegi, he explains that this is not far from what he wanted when he contested for general elections. He says that people must know that he behaves differently when he is in the office and outside.

'I wanted to be an elected representative of the community in Parliament and for some reason I did not succeed. I was appointed on December 1, to serve in this office. This is not far from what I wanted because I work with the community and address their issues. I represent the Selebi-Phikwe West MP in various panels and meetings,' he explains.

Nzwaligwa adds that his office is similar to other offices across the country and is meant to serve the nation. He mentions that the legislator spends most of his time away attending Parliamentary debates or attending committee meetings that he has been assigned to participate in.

During his absence the needs of the constituency still have to be addressed and people know where to go when they need assistance. He observes that it is not like before when MPs used to operate from their homes and residents suffered when they were away.

'The Selebi-Phikwe District Officer has been helpful since I started working here because there are some policies and procedures that I was not familiar with. Different heads of departments are also doing a great job even though there are some limits and challenges that cannot be overcome in a day,' he says.

He states that his dream in life has always been to work for the community and during his term in office he will completely engage himself. His plans include grouping unemployed members of the community and organising workshops that will engage private financiers and government departments to encourage them to start their own businesses.
He says their mandate, is to make sure that people benefit from their five-year term in office.

'We want to close the vacuum between people aged 30-39 years because the other age groups are enjoying grants from the government. We want to engage CEDA and other private institutions to convince the government to come up with ways to assist them. The government will listen to them unlike us,' he says.

Nzwaligwa observes that this age group is the most hard-hit when it comes to unemployment in the country.