President Ian Khama will no longer distribute blankets.
This was revealed in a kgotla meeting on Thursday in Thamaga where the President was addressing the residents about some of the poverty eradication programmes as well as government developments in place.
In the past, questions have been raised on the appropriateness of the President being the one to distribute blankets. Some have gone as far as to ask for the source of the blankets.
But the Minister of Health and also area MP, John Seakgosing, told a fully packed kgotla meeting that government has taken a decision to task social workers across the country to carry out the task of distributing blankets.
Seakgosing said government has purchased 30 000 blankets, which will be distributed to the needy, including the old age beneficiaries for this coming winter season as an effort to shield them from cold.
He said radios will also be distributed to the deserving needy, including those under the old age pensions.
Seakgosing also took the opportunity to ask the president to build a senior secondary school and some sustainable dams, unlike the dams built by Ipelegeng workers saying there are of no use to the community.
“I ask you, Mr President to at least look into how Thamaga can be assisted by building a dam, football pitch, senior secondary school and bus rank because we already have land in place. What we need is money. I have showed some relevant ministers here present to look into the site and they are happy with the designed setup of all that I have proposed and we are now awaiting your assistance,” said Seakgosing.
He also asked the president to build at least 50 houses for the needy in his constituency through his initiative of Presidential Housing Appeal.
Most of the residents aired the same view as their area MP, saying Thamaga is lacking resources and asked for the relevant authorities to convert it into a Sub District to address the issue of lack of services.
Khama told the residents that government will no-longer build new Senior Secondary Schools because it is expensive but has proposed to resolve the issue by expanding the existing junior schools.
“So in the next National Development Plan 11 (NDP11) a senior secondary school in Thamaga will be included as your minister contends that there is a junior school available for expansion,” said Khama.
