The newly elected leadership of the Gaborone City Council (GCC) has promised to accelerate the level of developments in the city during their tenure in office.
This comes after councilor for Sebele ward Austin Abraham won the mayoral seat by defeating fellow party councilor Father Maphongo by 17 votes to 14 during a party caucus meeting held over the weekend.
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When accepting the leadership baton Abraham stated that the city of Gaborone like all other places has been going through the debilitating effects of Covid-19 adding that he is glad that the country continues to roll out the vaccination programme, an initiative he will with immediate effect join in and help drive.
“The BDP will continue to develop Botswana’s cities and make them compete regionally and globally. We believe that it is only through real vision and dedicated planning that we can unlock our cities’ full potential and make sure their enterprise and living standards rival those of the best cities in the world,” he said.
Abraham further said he intends to deliver on his promises he sold to fellow councilors during his 2 year term.
He said among the many issues he intends to address are the issues of mental health and pyscho social support given how Covid-19 has been disruptive to families in so many ways that require immediate attention.
“I have lined up a series of promises that I want to fulfil and that includes ensuring that Gaborone becomes the cleanest city in the region, dealing with potholes and over grown trees around the city,” said Abraham.
He further said he will engage with law enforcement and communities to tackle the issues of crime.
“I further promise to promote the spirit of volunteerism to address development challenges and increase participation by women, youth, and children joining other stakeholders to fight Gender Based Violence in all its forms,” added Abraham.
He also said he intends to Work and engage with small businesses to increase economic participation further saying that this will help to explore the public private partnership model to deliver key developments around the city.
“We shall continue with branding the city and finally support the country leadership in all the initiatives aimed at improving and saving lives of Batswana. I look forward to seeing the city back to its vibrancy, children playing in the streets safely, reduced crime, night life being enjoyed in a safe manner among other things. This is our city and we can achieve greatness if we work together,” said Abraham.
For his part, newly elected deputy mayor Oduetse Tautona stated that although there is little time between now and the general elections they will work towards ensuring that Gaborone becomes a diamond city.
“We have lobbied councilors to vote for us and now that they have entrusted us with a mandate to run the city it is time to deliver and we shall definitely do that,” said Tautona.
