17 Dec 2014

The Local Economic Development (LED) concept plays a pivotal role in improving the livelihoods of people through creation of decent jobs.

The chairperson of the South East District Council (SEC), Mr Phenyo Segokgo expressed this during the full council session on Monday, December 15. “This concept can assist in the diversification of our local economy through the use of available resources in the district,” he said.

He noted that LED supported and took into considerable the informal sector in the development path, adding that the informal sector also needed to grow and contribute to the economy. Mr Segokgo said challenges such as non-availability of designated trading places to market and sell goods hamper the informal sector growth.

He implored fellow councillors to identify ways of improving the informal sector growth in the district. “Our focus should be creating an investor friendly environment as well as identifying strategies aimed at addressing development challenges in the district which include unemployment and institutionalised poverty in the next five years,” Mr Segokgo added.

He said collaboration and creation of synergies with different stakeholders was one of the strategies which could be adopted to address the council’s needs.

Cllr Segokgo further said the council needs to come up with funding strategies which would reduce reliance on government funding. He noted that the South East District is bordering Gaborone and Lobatse town council, and added that the council needs to capitalise on this advantage and lure investors.

On poverty eradication, he said the district continued to implement alternative packages. He said the alternative packages component was undertaken with 96 operational projects, 56 of which are in Ramotswa and 40 in Tlokweng.

However, he noted that programme beneficiaries were encountering challenges such as lack of operational space and market. “Now it is upon us as the leadership of this council to come up with solutions.

Cllr Segokgo noted that for the 2014/15 financial year, the district had 130 Ipelegeng projects and that over 11 000 beneficiaries were engaged from April 2014 to date.

He also noted that about P7.3 million was spent in Ramotswa Sub council while Tlokweng sub council used about P8.6 million. ENDS