Gaborone Mayor, Oarabile Motlaleng, has explained that due to lack of finances, the city council has decided to source out P25 million from the Accountant-General to address some pressing internal matters.
"’My very first encounter as the new mayor was to find out the council is going through a financial crisis and, therefore, I had to act to address the situation,’’ he said. Speaking at a press briefing recently, Motlaleng explained that they have since received a quarter of the money which they used to pay for drought relief programme workers and commissioned garbage companies engaged by the city council. The mayor further explained that the very same companies failed to carry out their responsibilities at the time when the council didn't have funds to pay them resulting in an unhygienic environment. Therefore, he pleaded with the companies to be considerate and "conduct their responsibility as understanding Batswana".
He also said as the council they will continue to motivate them to do their job. Furthermore, he explained that as the incoming government, they won't hold onto doing things slowly even if they are new to operations. Instead, they will carry out their duties as promised. He said they would take responsibility for all the blame should anything not go accordingly.
Meanwhile, on a different issue, Motlaleng explained that potholes on the city roads need to be addressed to curb future accidental occurrences. He mentioned areas such as Gaborone North and Notwane regarding the bad condition of internal roads. “Therefore, as the Gaborone City Council, we aim to improve and better the state of the roads. We are aware of the concerns raised by residents regarding the state of our roads which have been dilapidated,” the mayor said. He also mentioned that there is a lack of lighting in Gaborone. Motlaleng suggested that they should come up with a plan which is a pyramid of umbrella lights and look into installing more tower lights. “We should install solar lights to achieve the goal of turning Gaborone into a diamond city,” Motlaleng said.
Whilst addressing the issue of poor drainage system, the mayor pleaded with the community to actively participate in unclogging the system in the vicinity of their homes where drainage passes to avoid blockage. He, however, acknowledged that it is important for the city council to improve the drainage system. On another issue, the mayor expressed concern over the growing cases of gender-based violence (GBV). ‘’Another issue that needs to be addressed is GBV. Therefore, Batswana need to come up with ways to fight GBV,’’ Motlaleng said.
The mayor encouraged Batswana "to love one another" as a way of combating GBV explaining that it doesn't only affect couples in romantic relationships but also people in the working environment.