The Gerald location in Francistown is experiencing retarded infrastructure development on account of growing cases of vandalism and theft of government property by criminals, Francistown Mayor Shadreck Nyeku has said.
Speaking last week during the handing over of completed projects by Unik Engineering, a Chinese company, the mayor expressed concern over the growing rate of vandalism and theft of government property, saying that it is upon the residents of Gerald Estates to address the issue and talk to their children who are mostly the perpetrators.
“I want to plead with the residents of Gerald to try and talk to their children to stop vandalizing and stealing the property because this negates the development of Gerald,” he said.
Nyeku said it was sad that despite continuous outcry by FCC, vandalism on facilities, such as water reticulation pipes and Botswana Power Corporation cables, continued unabated in the area. He said that plots were supposed to be allocated in places where there were resources and facilities had been put in place to make life easy for residents.
The mayor further decried that there was a tendency by the youth in the location to connive with foreign nationals to steal government equipment such as electricity cables, water pipes and telecommunication cables.
“There is a growing criminal trend of BPC cables being stolen and the vandalism of main-hole lids, which are meant for the water drainage system. “If this is not stopped, the people who are going to suffer are the very same residents of Gerald Estates,” Nyeku pointed out.
He explained that the infrastructure in Gerald has cost the government close to P200 million but it was sad that vandalism and crime were growing at an alarming rate. He added that there was an outcry by the residents blaming FCC for not allocating residential and business plots well in time, clarifying that plots need to be allocated when facilities are all in place
Nyeku also told the residents that Unik Engineering Company has finally finished all its projects in the location, adding that people who applied for plots will now be allocated as infrastructure in now in place.
He said there were 38 business plots to be allocated and 2 672 for residential purposes.
Among other issues the mayor pleaded with the residents to always update their applications for plots at FCC to make it easy for the city council to communicate with those that have been awarded the plots.
