Africa-Press – Botswana. Residents of Masope in the Takatokwane constituency have urged their Member of Parliament to advocate for the official recognition of their community as a settlement, enabling them to access essential services enjoyed by other Batswana.
They made the appeal during a kgotla meeting addressed by the area MP who also serves as Minister of Sport and Arts, Mr Jacob Kelebeng on Monday, noting that the existing status quo denied them essential services such as water and health amenities.
Residents claimed that Masope was the land of their forefathers and therefore they were entitled to live there. They also blamed politicians for neglect, saying that they were just exploiting them as political ground for campaigns during election seasons.
The chairperson of the Action Committee- Masope, Ms Gase Ramota, said residents wanted their MP to advocate for Masope to be recognised and incorporated as a ward of Maboane. She said residents could not receive social services they were entitled to as Batswana because their settlement was not recognised.
They had the support of Kgosi Visco Tsiane of Takatokwane who said government was applying double standard as it acknowledged the headman of arbitration of Masope but did not a recognise the settlement.
Mr Nthusang Gabaoage, the councillor whose ward include Masope, said the community should have long been recognised as a settlement, given its population of over 506 people. He said it was strange that small settlements like Matlagatse and Kgasakwe were recognised before Masope. The residents also complained about lack of potable water in Masope and pleaded for the construction of a Kgotla structure and a mobile clinic.
MP Kelebeng pledged to support the residents’ desire and continue to advocate for their settlement to be a recognised so that they could enjoy services other Batswana were enjoying. At Maboane, the residents urged government to repurpose the old Maboane clinic into police offices, rather than leaving it as a white elephant. Residents also decried lack of residential plots allocation.
The Chairperson of Maboane Village Development Committee, Ms Bonegang Bathobasele, informed Mr Kelebeng that their primary school was in state of disrepair and required major maintenance.
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