Africa-Press – Botswana. Government programmes have the potential to create employment opportunities that can foster economic independence, says Mochudi West MP, Mr Mmusi Kgafela.
Addressing Mochudi residents recently, Mr Kgafela said public procurement laws were citizen-orientated.
He said all public works, services and procurement tenders were reserved for citizens hence urged Mochudi West residents to seize opportunities presented by them and other empowerment programmes.
He said he was worried about the high number of dependents on government handouts, and that they were not graduating from the dependency bracket.
He urged the youth to enrol in vocational trades in order to improve their technical skills and to create employment opportunities for other young people.
Mr Kgafela, who is also Minister of Trade and Industry, said he was worried by the high number of young people who worked under the Ipelegeng programme.
He urged them to exit the programme and to look for alternatives, noting that the programme was not a permanent solution for unemployment.
Mr Kgafela said his ministry was conducting a survey on goods that were used daily by government departments and other institutions so that their import could be minimised to encourage Batswana to produce them.
He said government had made strides in encouraging self-sufficiency in vegetable production through the horticultural import ban. He added that the ban had motivated Batswana to produce more vegetables.
He said the aim of government was to continue the initiative by adding more sectors such as financial services, insurance and items such as cement to minimise their import.
On other issues, he encouraged his constituents not to lose hope in livestock farming due to the high number of stock theft cases.
For their part, residents expressed dissatisfaction over long queues by senior citizens at post offices when collecting their monthly pension allowances.
They also said they were still experiencing challenges of drug shortage in some health facilities, and that the intake for local brigades was too low.
They also pleaded for services of Botswana Open University to be extended to Mochudi.
Other residents said the entire district was underdeveloped and under serviced by service providers such as Water Utilities Corporation and Kgatleng District Council.
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