Cry For A Primary School

By Chandapiwa Baputaki
Staff Writer | Monday May 14, 2007 00:00

 

The death of Dineo Lesetedi last week was yet another incident in which a child's life has been ended by a motorist in the estate and residents now say enough is enough. They say children in the estate have to brave crossing many busy roads on their way to and from school. The pupils have to walk about five kilometres and cross busy roads to go to schools in Phase II, Mogoditshane and Block III.

'There is no way that we can walk our children to and from school every day. We have to walk to go to work in the mornings too and our children are facing danger in these roads,' said a Block VI resident Madikane Modise. He lamented that they have waited for a primary school to be built in the estate for a long time and they have lost hope. 'Every child that is hit by a car in this location is my child and a cause for concern,' he said.
Another resident, Batlhalefeng Letlhage said if the government does not take action, they will be left with no choice but to hold demonstrations to show their dissatisfaction. 'When we first settled here, we were told that a primary school will be built and we wonder what we have done to deserve this kind of treatment from our government,' she said.

'This is a very painful issue to us and many families have lost their children. They must at least put speed humps to control the speeding cars,' said Mpho Rrammolai.

Area councillor Baipidi Lekoba said she could have tabled a motion about the issue but the Gaborone City Council (GCC) is already in the development plan of 2006-2007 financial year. She said if there are no funds available to build a new primary school, the Ministry of Education should sacrifice one senior secondary school. 'The way things are going, the new Block VII location will have a primary school before Block VI,' she said.
Lekoba added that the plot reserved for the primary school may end up being given to foreigners to build a private school. She explained that there are many churches in the area that have been allocated undeveloped plots. 'Parents here do not have money to hire combis for their children. Residents have had enough,' Lekoba said.

When contacted, the Minister of Local Government Margaret Nasha referred Monitor to the GCC. 

At the time of going to press, efforts to reach the GCC City Clerk were futile.