04 Sep 2019

Kgalagadi South prospective parliamentary candidates on Tuesday promised voters infrastructural development and strategic sector reforms to move the district forward. 

The race for the constituency’s political office would be between Mr Sam Brooks of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP),  Dr Micus Chimbombi of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and Mr John Toto who would run as an independent candidate.

During a Radio Botswana debate, Mr Brooks said his political track record spoke volumes about his leadership qualities. During his tenure as councillor, Mr Brooks said he fought for establishment of Tsabong Sub-district Council. 

He said he advocated for the people of Bray/Hereford to be allocated commercial land at Banyana Farms where they could gain employment. 

Other achievements under his belt as a councillor, he said, was calling for relocation of the airstrip from Logaganeng to Tsabong. He said issues of acute water shortage in Makopong-Draaihoek areas would be on his priority list and promised to ensure that it was solved within three months.

On development of the road infrastructure network, he said, he would make sure that the Werda-Hereford-Mmathethe road stretch, Tsabong- Maleshe road, Bokspits-Struitzendam- Kalahari Trans-Frontier Park, Tsabong-Mabuasehube, Khawa, Bospits-Transfrontier were tarred roads.

Mr Brooks promised to connect electricity in staff housing at Trans-Frontier Park, install solar lights in Mabuasehube and bring in mobile networks and Radio Botswana transmitters. 

He said efforts would be channeled towards the development of Lobu small stock. He said infrastructural development was taking place at the Khawa Dune Challenge as part of bringing developments to the area. 

Mr Brooks argued that the small-stock abattoir was in the pipeline and would create employment opportunities for the people.

He promised to turn Kgalagadi into a tourism hub by drilling boreholes where wild animals could drink water in an attempt to stop them from crossing the border in search of water. 

For his part, Dr Chimbombi promised to improve poor education results in the region. 

He said his party manifesto stipulated quality education as a human right. 

Thus, he said, the UDC shall ensure that it produced well-rounded pupils. 

He said primary schools average pass level was at 62 per cent while junior community secondary school was at 20 per cent pass. 

He promised to improve the results in two years by bringing primary school results to 85 per cent while the junior secondary school would be at 50 per cent. 

Dr Chimbombi said accreditation in vocational schools would be dealt with and where necessary, measures would be put in place to equip them with necessary facilities. 

On health, he said, the UDC manifesto stated that access to health was a right. 

He said the UDC would build a new hospital considering that it would be servicing about 30 000 people in the district. 

He said the current hospital was in a bad state and its structures were old. He promised to improve the economy of the district ae. He said the UDC would institute public sector reforms that would enable them to generate employment where there would be a strategic investment in infrastructure while strategic sector reforms would also be put in place to help create the 100 000 jobs. 

On agriculture, Dr Chimbombi said they would reform the sector and introduce hemp, which was important for medical health.

On governance, he said, the party would foster good governance and uphold anti-corruption by ensuring that all oversight structures reported directly to Parliament. 

And Mr Toto said he was capable of wrestling the constituency back since he was the first opposition candidate to win the constituency in 2009. 

He said he would call upon the Botswana Meat Commission to offer farmers better prices for their cattle. 

He said his track record included construction of the Tsabong Unified Secondary School. Akin to Mr Brooks, he also claimed Khawa Dune Challenge as part of his achievements, the Tsabong Culture Centre which he said would prop up the arts and culture in the constituency. 

He also said in the past he started the small stock abattoir but it failed to come to fruition. He said the abattoir would produce fully processed meat.

Mr Toto told voters that his absence in Parliament caused a vacuum in the progress of developments in the constituency, which he said required him to continue where he had left. 

He promised to create a market for small stock farmers a. 

He said it was important to link Botswana road network to South Africa to bring about developments in the district. 

Mr Toto said the MC Cathy’s Rust road to Kuruman town in South Africa must be tarred as it was the nearest town to Kgalagadi.ends