18 Oct 2019

Each of the four parliamentary hopefuls vying for Gaborone North constituency has implored the electorates to vote for them. During the last Radio Botswana parliamentary debate on Tuesday, the four hopefuls namely; Major Thatayaone Molefhi of Alliance for Progressives (AP), Mr Mpho Balopi of Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Advocate Sydney Pilane of

Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and Mr Haskins Nkaigwa of Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) vowed to improve challenges of water, sewage and the stench in the area, as well as youth unemployment.

Mr Nkaigwa said he deserved to be voted back to Parliament, because there was still a lot that he wanted to do for Gaborone North constituents.

Citing what he had done during his tenure as area MP, he said he successfully tabled a motion in Parliament requesting government to facilitate for residents of Gaborone North farms to have potable water and sewerage facilities.

Mr Nkaigwa said he also had a vision to improve academic excellence in the area, revealing that to achieve this, he introduced two roving trophies, accompanied by cash prizes, which were competed for by both primary and junior secondary schools in the constituency.

“With this great vision for the constituency, we saw some business people coming forth to partake and support the initiative,” he added.

He said he also adopted of Tsholofelo Primary School, which used to be the worst performing, but had since improved.

Mr Nkaigwa said in collaboration with residents of Gaborone North farms, he formed the Gaborone North Moshawa Development Trust, which tackled burning issues in the area, such as water, sewerage, environment, roads and security.

If elected, he promised to continue with other assignments that he still has for the area, such as ensuring there is a solution to the stench from Glen Valley Sewerage Ponds.

Mr Balopi, who is also BDP secretary general, said if elected, he would ensure Gaborone North was a safe place, ‘not only in terms of security, but also in terms of entertainment.’

“We will achieve this, for example, by establishing a cultural centre in the area to keep the youth away from roaming the streets, because some crimes are committed as a result of lack of recreational facilities and unemployment,” he said.

Provision of entertainment or leisure facilities, Mr Balopi said would help to address crime challenges in the area.
For his part, Advocate Pilane said if elected, he would advocate for change of some government policies to ensure they adequately addressed challenges faced by Batswana, such as unemployment.
“We are going to ensure that we do not concentrate on relying on other countries to feed our nation. We do not need to import food. All we have to do is to empower our people with all that is necessary to engage in commercial agriculture and produce food for the nation,” he added.

Furthermore, he said BMD would also ensure that education and health policies were improved for delivery of better, affordable and improved services that would be beneficial to all Batswana.

“We are going to ensure there is improvement in our public education and health systems to ensure that Batswana get quality services, which are at par with those offered in private schools and facilities.

We will ensure there is improvement of teachers’ working conditions,” he said.

Major Molefhi said AP envisions a new Botswana where all Batswana would realise their aspirations through restored hope.
If elected, he said he would guarantee that the stench in Gaborone North was a thing of the past by ensuring that a sewage system, with the right technology, was established in the area.

Major Molefhi also noted that, when elected, AP would drive the agenda that “Botswana must feed herself” by addressing the challenge of technology uptake in the agricultural sector, to reduce labour costs and create employment for Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources graduates through commercial agriculture.

During the 2014 general election, Gaborone North constituency was contested for by three political parties, being; UDC which won by 5 738 votes, whilst BDP and BCP got 4 109 and 3 157 votes, respectively out of 15 153 people who had registered to vote in the constituency. ENDS