Selebi Phikwe council "dumps" SPEDU

ONALENNA KELEBEILE
Staff Writer | Thursday June 13, 2013 00:00

 

Councillors at a recent special full council meeting bashed SPEDU and its various initiatives, saying it had 'dismally' failed to diversify the town. Its alternative, the LED, is a product of collaboration between the Council and SPEDU and contains strategies aimed at diversifying the town and prolonging its economic life.At the full council meeting, councillor Godfrey Mbaiwa expressed concern that the north-eastern town is yet to see SPEDU's achievements.He said SPEDU could not attribute BCL's Polaris 11 to itself because the mine as an institution conceived the initiative. The fast-moving Polaris 11 initiative is BCL's attempt at diversifying and extending the mine's existence beyond 2020 through various projects such as extending mining into other minerals.

'I foresee a trend where SPEDU will relocate to where its services will be needed since it is now a company, so we cannot say we will benefit much from it,Ó said Mbaiwa, alluding to SPEDU's transformation from a ministerial unit to a parastatal last year.  Councillor Lekang Mukokomani urged the local authority to tighten its ropes on the LED strategy for it to be a success. He said the council needed to challenge SPEDU on how it can help the strategy to be a success. 'SPEDU is just a stumbling block which if not removed will cause the LED strategy to fail,' said Mukokomani. Echoing the prevailing sentiments, councillor Tshiamo Ikaneng, said the LED strategy must be designed such that it does not fall into SPEDU's pitfalls.'The new strategy shows that we have tightened our ropes as council as SPEDU has failed us,' he added. Another councillor, Mmapula Mmidi-Phuduhudu, praised LED as an excellent initiative designed specifically to address the town's problems. She said while the country has a lot of policies, implementation remains a challenge, expressing hope that the new strategy does not see the same. In defence of SPEDU, outgoing town clerk, Mompati Seleka said the unit's mandate was not implementation but facilitation and coordination. Seleka, who is also a SPEDU board member, said the unit has carried out studies on developments in the region and also identified tourism clusters such as a proposed nature reserve.

He said the agency has carried out studies on developments in the region and also identified tourism clusters, citing a proposed nature reserve. One of these studies, Seleka explained, involves leveraging on Selebi Phikwe's skilled personnel to set up a base metal manufacturing industry. He also noted that BCL mine has a competitive advantage on base metal beneficiation, which it has to utilise in many ways.'BCL smelter is the best in the world and is the most efficient,' the town clerk said.'We have an advantage on this and Polaris 11 seeks to derive benefits from these advantages.'To this Mukokomani responded, 'Consultancies have been on the government's agenda; SPEDU has done nothing. Do not try to defend SPEDU. Just acknowledge that there is a problem'.

Earlier in the special full council meeting, the town's economic planner, Nathaniel Maphotho, explained that the LED strategy plans to attract and retain investors into the town, guided by clearly defined business opportunities and supported by a conducive environment.'LED strategy should lobby for targeted investor incentives that are specific to the area and an investment strategy supported by quality services are necessary components of a vibrant LED strategy,' he said.He also revealed that Selebi Phikwe is doing exceptionally well in the LED concept and is the first council to implement it.

Maphotho said they would conduct consultations to get the buy-in of all stakeholders in all developments done in the town to avoid duplication of efforts. He expressed the need for a permanent LED office arguing that SPEDU is a company that could relocate elsewhere. 'We also need a project team that will draw expertise from stakeholders and a committee that will come up with modalities of reviewing this strategy annually,' he said.However, councillors felt that instead of setting up an office, the Economic Planning office should be beefed up to incorporate the new strategy and a steering committee be strengthened. Maphotho added that strategic thoughts are necessary to avert abortive planning, stressing that a long term financing strategy is needed for the town.