19 Feb 2025

The Urban Development Plan and National Development Plan consultations conducted in 2024 identified poverty and unemployment as key issues in Selebi Phikwe.

When responding to a parliamentary question yesterday, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ignatious Moswaane said community profiling conducted in 2022 and 2024 and the assessment also indicated that there was considerable amount of poverty and unemployment in the district.

While the assistant minister acknowledged that poverty and affluent survey had never been conducted in Selebi Phikwe, he said government had introduced sustainable income generation opportunities through economic empowerment programmes as a way of addressing these challenges.

He further said a Wealth Creation Programme was being executed by different departments in Selebi Phikwe adding that 26 projects would be implemented during the 2025/26 financial years.

Also, he said the Selebi Phikwe Town Council and Local Enterprises Authority (LEA) were currently building 42 market stalls in a prime location to be used by the informal sector.

The town council, he said had partnered with a developer to upgrade the bus rank and build a shopping mall.

Already, he said 100 people were employed during the phase one of the project and an additional 150 had been permanently employed in the fuel station, convenient store and food outlet.

  He further said the bus rank had 21 closed and 26 open market stalls, which were all occupied by the informal sector.

The assistant minister said phase two project was estimated to employ 300 people during the construction phase and 1 000 upon completion.

He said the district was in the process of developing a Local Economic Development Strategy to come up with coordinated developments by creating decent jobs, which would in the process improve the livelihoods of the community.

Mr Moswaane said the Wealth Creation programme aided in poverty reduction, with 193 operational projects and 17 of them doing well.  He further said other programme was Ipelegeng Skils Development Component.

Selebi Phikwe East MP, Mr Kgoberego Nkawana, had asked the minister if they had undertaken a poverty and affluent survey in the town and to state his plans to reduce poverty in the long term. He also asked if there had been any poverty reduction signs. ENDS