Mahalapye Sub-District plans to sell sand

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Wednesday September 1, 2010 00:00

This is necessary because the village is already experiencing an influx of companies from as far away as Gaborone to harvest sand.  The village is also experiencing increased sand harvesting due to construction of projects taking place in Palapye. The river's natural beauty is being destroyed by this heavy and sometimes illegal activity.

The Sub District Council chairman, Galley Moatshe Senai, has indicated that they are still planning to approach the Department of Mines as well as the land board about the issue.

He indicated that they are considering, through their village development committees, to charge for the harvesting of sand. If this goes according to plan, it would help boost the council's own income revenue that it uses to meet its financial needs especially during the era of the economic recession.

As a result of the economic downturn, the council's budget was reduced by P16 million but despite the setback, the council has found other means to augment the revenue to ensure that services are taken to the people.

The chairman indicated that they managed to generate P200,000 from signboard rent. Licensing generated P228,000 as well as charges for sewerage fees that raked in about P720,000.

The council also generated about P16,200 annually from its 27 expatriate students.

However, collection of water bills remains a challenge due to shortage of manpower. The council is considering engaging institutions like the post office for people to pay there as this will enhance service delivery and save costs. Some of the projects that were deferred due to shortage of funds include the upgrading of the bus rank, storm water drainage and upgrading of the water system.

Some primary schools' backlog eradication programmes have been suspended and the authorities hope that things will soon get back to normal. Some projects like the construction of the Mahalapye-Kudumatse road are ongoing. On the issue of decentralisation, the authorities say that it has created more problems than solutions.

It has, though, empowered them to recruit their own staff up to C1 scale and this gives them a chance to attract more staff. Senai noted that through the decentralisation exercise that brought about the subdivision of the Central District Council, they are now able to address their issues properly.

'Policy makers and implementers are harmonised, so our implementation is going to improve. The whole exercise has facilitated our implementation processes and our enhanced coordination has helped us'.

The Mahalapye Sub District Council has also come out on top in terms of management of the Ipelegeng programme because it managed to utilise all the packages it was allocated.

Its beneficiaries got help from ISPAAD.