Villagers happy with new constituency name

In a snap survey among the constituents of Shashe West, which used to be Tonota North, they revealed that the name was the one that they had suggested.Last year during the visit by the Delimitation Committee to the constituency, there was unanimity among villagers that there was nothing that connected them with, and to, Tonota.Villagers suggested that Shashe West constituency was the name that could be used because they have all benefited from the Shashe River whose name they had wanted to adopt for their constituency.

They said the river watered their livestock and they too derived some livelihood from it, hence it had a unifying element for them.Wabuya Ntuluki, 34, of Borolong village, said he is happy with the name change from Tonota North to Shashe West because the name holds much history for villages in the constituency.'I was a member of the delegation that was sent by village elders to pick the names that we suggested for the constituency and Shashe West was one of them. I am delighted that the delimitation committee has heeded our requests, ' said Ntuluki.'The name carries a rich history that connects all of the villages in the constituency because we use it to water our livestock. Our parents used to meet with others from various villages to feed their livestock even draw water for domestic consumption, ' he said.

Ntuluki said that whenever money and development projects were allocated by government to constituencies, Tonota village benefited more than others because of its name.'Now funds will be sent straight to Shashe West constituency - not Tonota - and that way we should be able to develop. As you can see Tonota presently has all the services as compared to us, ' he said.He said most of the youth who have benefited from the Youth Grant scheme come from Tonota village, which clearly shows that it benefits more than other villages.Oduetse Mbulawa of Chadibe village said he was one of the people agitating for the change of the name to Shashe West constituency during the delimitation committee's visit and was happy that commissioners had listened to villagers' requests.

'We do not have anything to do with Tonota and we were not happy to be named after them. We are in Bukalanga area and wished that there should be names that linked us together other than using Tonota, ' he said.Mbulawa said Shashe West is also ethnically neutral and that he was happy the constituency derived its name from the river and not another village.However, Phankge Resetse of Mokubilo village seemed to see a fly in the ointment when he said he was worried over some of the changes in the constituency.Mokubilo has been removed from the Tonota North constituency (which is now Shashe West) to Boteti East some thing that has not gone down well with Resetse and fellow villagers.

'We have heard about the changes, I am not happy that our village has been removed from the constituency, I was the one who was sent to plead with villagers in our constituency to keep us in the Tonota North constituency because we do not have a link with Boteti where we have been taken,' he said.He said that the majority of residents at Mokubilo wanted to stay in the constituency and are not happy to have been sent to Boteti East.'Most of the villages in Boteti are not developing even though it is within the diamond mining area. 

'We were the only village in the Tonota North Constituency that had a serious complaint of water shortage but in Boteti there are a host of villages in the same boat as us. We have even heard rumours that we are better than some of these villages,' said Resetse.Resetse said that he doubts that their village will ever develop because most of the villages in Boteti East are remote and have a lot of challenges.'For instance, we had good representatives (rene re nale boemedi jwa tlhwatlhwa) and there are visible signs that our village was steadily developing, but to be sent to Boteti East is going to be torture for us, ' lamented Resetse.

He said that they had a request that they needed a junior secondary school to cater for Mokubilo, Mabesekwa, Matsitama, and Mmea villages but since they have been sent to Boteti such a request will never be answered.'Travelling to Mosu village, which is 38km, for services is too far as compared to Matsitama which is only 28km away. We are used to baKalanga tribe and understand their language compared to the Boteti people and wonder how we will be able to communicate with them, ' said Resetse. Resetse said as for the name change to Shashe West, they are happy about it because it is one of the names that they too had suggested.