Salesando accused of failing residents

CALISTUS KOLANTSHO
Correspondent | Wednesday September 29, 2010 00:00

Sesame councillor, Godfrey Mbaiwa said members of the community have complained that Saleshando turned the meeting into a political rally.

He said the MP failed to inform residents of Kagiso and Western Area about issues discussed at the recent Parliamentary session. Mbaiwa said the MP should have informed the residents about the government decision to reduce the electricity connection fee to P5,000, to be implemented in October. He said the government has also decided to allow youth aged 18 to be allocated plots without the consent of their parents.

'Saleshando failed to give people all the information they expected to get from the meeting. All he did was to tell them that if they wanted to know about the Parliamentary discussions they must come and read the documents at his office. Saleshando also said he believes in One D being that of delivery, out of the five D's of President Ian Khama,' said Mbaiwa. He expressed shock at Saleshando's appeal to the media to inform the Minister of Health, Dr John Seakgosing, to remove old machines from the Selebi-Phikwe Government Hospital by October 1. He said Saleshando should take the responsibility of approaching Seakgosing with this complaint.

Accusing Saleshando of politicising a kgotla meeting and misleading the community, Mbaiwa noted that the MP should be aware that a new hospital for Selebi-Phikwe will soon be built and will have new equipment. He explained that the old machines given to the local hospital from Sekgoma are still in working order.

He pointed out that Saleshando has failed to address workers about the challenges they face in Selebi-Phikwe. He said that when asked why he is failing to attend to workers concerns, the MP accused the workers of being cowards and advised them to go on strike. 'We cannot expect an MP to fuel workers to strike,' he lashed out. Mbaiwa went on to say that the Ipelegeng programme is going well in Selebi-Phikwe and since its inception, 8,172 people have already benefited from the programme.

He however admitted that despite its success, the wages for Ipelegeng are low and need to be reviewed.Responding to Mbaiwa's concerns, Thakadiawa councillor, Evelyn Kgodungwe pointed out that Mbaiwa has his own agenda because the meeting was successful. She noted that nobody complained about the way the meeting went. She stated that people must not bury their heads in the sand when things are not going well.

'If we keep on shielding the government, we will not get anything done for this town. There are many projects that could have been done in Selebi-Phikwe but the only excuse we get is that there is no money. It is sabotage because the funds are there,' she said.

Kgodungwe said members of the community need permanent jobs not Ipelegeng and that is why they are complaining. She pointed out that the new hospital could have been built before the economy downturn.

She added that the expansion of the Selebi-Phikwe Technical College into the College of Applied Arts and Science would not see the light of day. 'We love this town, we have been staying here our whole lives and we will die here.We want to see Selebi-Phikwe growing. The excuse of recession does not hold water,' said Kgodungwe.