28 Nov 2018

The Department of Museum and Art Gallery will erect a billboard at Tropic of Capricorn that will show where the iconic stones at the heritage site come from.

Principal curator at Francistown Museum, Milton Tapela told the Francistown full council meeting that the Department had procured a bill board that would indicate to passersby the origins of the stones. 

The response followed complaints from some councillors that the iconic stones at the Tropic of Capricorn are now used to advertise other countries rather than Botswana. 

Tapela however, explained that countries advertised on the stones are those that the imaginary line passes through.

Such countries include South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Australia, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Namibia. “The intention is not to advertise, but to educate our children about countries that this imaginary line passes through,” he added.

Francistown City Councillors are against the erection of the magnificent stones at the Tropic of Capricorn monument, saying they were not consulted when the formations were removed from where they were discovered at Gerald Estate in Francistown.

Meanwhile, the Mayor of Francistown, Sylvia Muzila said the City of Francistown still has no access to farm NQ 9, which was bought from Tati Company in an endeavour to undertake economic development.

Briefing councillors during a special full council meeting this week, Muzila explained that several attempts were made with the Tati Company to provide he council access to the farm, but the company had instead proposed that the Council could only access the farm by the quarry road that connects to A1 road at Tati Siding.

Muzila said such proposal could not be accepted because it was costly.

On other issues, the mayor told councillors that the council five-year strategic plan was at its final stage and it embraced all initiatives geared towards job creation and eradication of poverty. 

She described the plan as very important as it covered both the council staff and the community, adding that it was imperative that the strategy was inclusive as envisaged in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

The plan needs to be resourced so that it can be a reality, she added. ENDS