Kweneng district empowers locals

NNASARETHA KGAMANYANE
Correspondent | Thursday August 30, 2012 00:00

He said this during the ongoing full council third session of the ordinary meeting at Molepolole on Monday. Leo said through this arrangement, schools would no longer need to buy bread from commercial bakeries, as local communities would supply the demand.

'Communities have been mobilised to show interest in baking bread for schools and detailed guidelines have been developed which highlights issues such as hygiene, pricing and use of school facilities,' he added.

Supplied bread is said to be in the form of diphaphatha. Leo said that this initiative would be monitored closely to ensure that it provides value for money for both the councillors and the suppliers. He said it is their aim to expand this initiative to include the purchasing of other school food such as beans, from the local communities.

'I encourage all farmers in the district to plant ordinary local beans for possible supply to our schools. This will go a long way in contributing to the country's desire for import substitution. This will encourage the country's sustainability and decrease the government's costs as it imports most beans from other countries,' Leo explained.

The Chairperson further said Kweneng region aims to start 73 projects of alternative packages of the poverty eradication programme across the district where they will utilise the P3,914,194 that the district council was given in July 2012. He said implementation of such projects will be overseen by the Department of Social and Community Development, which is currently screening the beneficiaries and assessing procurement of equipment.

'Identification of beneficiaries was done in 2011, before eligibility guidelines were availed. Upon receipt of funds, it was decided to re-assess the beneficiaries using the guidelines and to determine if they still have interest,' Leo told the council.