27 Jan 2025

 The Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs has urged councillors to embrace government’s decentralisation policy because it is a cornerstone of democracy and a key to improved service delivery.

Addressing councillors during a consultative full council meeting in Francistown recently, Minister Ketlhalefile Motshegwa said the development of a Decentralisation Policy would guide overall service, coordinate and align decision-making process to enhance national and local level democracy as well as to promote popular participation for sustainable national development.

“Our government commits through the strategic objective of democracy, governance and security to creating a strong, working local government system by decentralising responsibilities and resources to councils to enable them to implement projects on time, on budget and to take services to the people”, he said.

Mr Motshegwa said the policy would equip council leadership  through comprehensive training programmes to manage expanded responsibilities, fostering a more capable and efficient local government structure.

The minister said the overall goal of the national decentralisation policy was to promote equitable and sustainable development that enhanced citizen’s participation by transferring decision-making powers and resources to local governments.

Minister Motshegwa said the policy would empower citizens to actively participate in the planning, financing, implementation and evaluation of all local development and service delivery activities while holding their leaders accountable.

 He further noted that there was already significant experience and political will together with institutional structures to implement the decentralisation.

In response, councillors appreciated the proposed national decentralisation policy, however, Mr Lesego Kwambala of Itekeng Ward said the policy had to also include placing ministries headquarters in strategic respective places.

He said the tourism ministry should be based in places like Kasane; well known as the centre of tourism. Councillor for Ntshe Ward Mr Eric Mabengano said the proposed decentralisation policy was a welcome development but needed to consider issues of tribes. He said some tribes had no representatives at the Ntlo ya Dikgosi hence the need to address that. ENDS