Africa-Press – Botswana. Lobatse Town Council has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening its international partnership with Swedish, Bollnas Municipality in cultural heritage development.
The partnership started in 2022 aimed at promoting youth inclusivity in preserving culture and reviving heritage monuments with the objective of generating income, reducing youth unemployment and addressing social challenges.
Even though, it came to an end in 2024, it had not yet reached its intended goal of seeing cultural heritage sites refurbished and fully operational thus creating employment opportunities for the youth.
Therefore, the two authorities have taken a decision to extend the partnership.
Welcoming the Swedish delegation in Lobatse on Thursday, Lobatse Town Council Mayor, Mr Aron Ganakgomo said the partnership presented opportunities for the historic town.
Mr Ganakgomo said Lobatse was endowed with cultural heritage sites in dire need of resuscitation adding that during Botswana’s nascent years, developments included construction of the first tarred road covering 3km, radio station and the Legislative Council buildings.
As such, he said the history of Lobatse must be preserved.
Mayor Ganakgomo further reassured the Swedish delegation of the council’s support for the Cultural Heritage project as cultural heritage tourism formed part of Lobatse Town Council development roadmap.
For his part, Bollnas Municipality Mayor, Mr Abdullahi Mohamed said they were pleased to strengthen the partnership between the two councils, which started in 2022.
Initially, he said the partnership was aimed at promoting democracy in developing countries in order to create opportunities for people living in poverty to positively influence their living conditions.
This time, he said, the aim was to deepen corporation between the two councils with the main focus on strengthening capacity with local companies in Lobatse and those in Bollnas, Non-Governmental Organisations as well as the youth.
Lobatse District Commissioner, Mr Mpho Mathe also appreciated the project, which he noted would go a long way in revitalising the first colonial capital of the country, rich with historical sites.
He noted that developing cultural heritage sites was part of government strategic plan to diversify the tourism portfolio through city tourism as well as harnessing cultural tourism.
Mr Mathe noted that the project was opportune, especially now as the country moved to implement the National Development plan 12 as part of the government road map.
“As a country we are quite strong on tourism safari, which was mostly concentrated up north, now we want to move into the space of urban and cultural tourism,” he said.
Additionally, he said neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Mozambique had strong historic footprints of heritage in Lobatse.
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