09 Dec 2014

Dates for the Good Hope Ward re-election in the Good Hope/Mabule constituency will be announced as soon as the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has issued an election instrument.

Good Hope Sub-district Council chairperson, Ms Mmaobene Molefe, announced this during the first sub-district council’s meeting recently.  The re-election would follow a tie of votes between Botswana Democratic Party and Umbrella Democratic Change candidates in the October 24 general elections.

Meanwhile, Ms Molefe commended election officers for maintaining the highest standard of professionalism, impartiality as well as fairness in the conduct of elections which SADC and other foreign observers declared free and fair.

She also thanked voters for exercising their democratic right by casting votes during the general elections and urged them to continue doing so in future as responsible citizens. On issues of development, Ms Molefe said they were in the process of formulating development plans and a new vision for the sub-district. 

She urged all stakeholders to participate fully in the planning processes. Ms Molefe said in the State-of-Nation Address delivered in Parliament recently, the President announced a positive outlook of the economy in that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5.8 per cent in 2013 while it was expected to grow by 5.2 per cent in 2014.

She added that the retail and hospitality industry as well as agricultural sector also experienced growth while inflation rate registered a steady declined from 8.5 per cent in 2011 to 7.5 per cent in 2012 then to 5.9 per cent in 2013.  There was a further 4.5 per cent decline in September 2014.

Ms Molefe implored Good Hope Sub-district Council to intensifying its revenue collection exercise to help sustain such positive trends. In addition, she urged councillors to participate fully as well as encourage their communities during consultative meetings on development projects.

She urged communities to practise the spirit of self-reliance to reduce government expenditure on welfare programmes.

She further called for cooperation, noting that “only through hard work, commitment, dedication, perseverance and teamwork can we able to achieve what we have planned to do and make our sub-district a model of excellence”.

Meanwhile, she appealed to Batswana to be responsible and engage in proactive community policing to reduce social ills during the festive season. ENDS