Thursday, November 7, 2024

Vice President hands over house in Kang

It is an honour and privilege to be amongst you today as we handover this house to the Tlhogotona Samaje family.
 
It is in fact best fitting to be handing over this house this time during the rural development pitso when we are exploring ways to take us towards sustainable livelihoods. I should hasten to mention that livelihood systems operate within the human-environment interaction milieu, where the main aim is sustenance in terms of access to food, shelter and clothing.
 
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a challenge my government has taken very seriously hence the several programmes we have put in place and the recent restructuring of the Rural Development Council to accord the endeavour the necessary stature it deserves.
Furthermore, the government continues to put in place mechanisms to ensure implementation of policies and programmes including general improvement in the delivery of services to the citizenry. Recently, monitoring was intensified through the intensification of on the ground monitoring taking advantage of the internship programme.
 
Specifically on housing, some of the key initiatives include the Presidential Housing Appeal; turnkey and SHHA programmes; and the community service day initiatives where we have seen government institutions, private companies; development partners and individuals concerting efforts to help the under privileged.
 
There are also complementary programmes and these include poverty eradication, economic diversification drive, Programmes for destitute, Programmes for orphans and Subsidies for the agricultural sector including ISPAAD and LIMID.
 
All these initiatives have yielded immense results. For example the presidential housing appeal today stands at 556 pledged houses; and under poverty eradication, to date 1465 backyard gardens have been completed and 1595 alternative projects have been completed.
 
Ladies and gentlemen, as we are gathered here, handing over this house to Tlhogotona Samaje and his family, one must hasten to mention that this house is an initiative of one of the programmes I have just outlined. Thogotona is a registered destitute who is assisted with a food ration and destitute cash allowance. He has twelve children all unemployed.
 
In January 2011, the Permanent Secretary to the President convened a retreat for Permanent Secretaries in Kang to introspect on the progress made on the implementation of NDP10 and map the way forward to ensure effective delivery of services for the citizenry. During their retreat, in advancing His Excellency the President’s call for community service, the Permanent Secretaries raised P11, 100 towards construction of a house for the family of Samaje in collaboration with the local authorities.
 
These was seed money which saw others also contributing amongst them Lehututu Junior Secondary School, Kang primary School; Kang Police; Kang Village Development Committee; Kang community, Synohydro Botswana and Mr Tlale Lempehu. The funds were used to purchase construction materials while through the community service day initiatives civil servants and individuals contributed their labour voluntarily to help in the construction of the house.
 
Let me take this opportunity to thank all those who have participated in this project. I want to further congratulate the PIC Force for the initiative.
 
Ladies and gentlemen, as is now the norm that every time the PIC Force is in an area for its Retreat, at the end of the Retreat there is community service. This has been the case when they held a retreat in Kasane which preceded the Kang retreat and last year they raised P14, 300.00 to support the backyard garden programme in a quest to eradicate obsolete poverty. The money benefited 25 households by connecting standpipes. This is indeed leading by example. This is indeed leading by example.
 
In conclusion, as I hand over this house to Tlhogotona and the family, may I indicate that, the nature of giving itself implies we know what we have given but we do not know what the recipient have received as the value of what he has received is best known by him.

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