Residents of Mahotshwane village in the Southern District have appealed to the Honourable Minister of Local Government, Peter Siele to consider their village about having its own Kgosi as currently it is without one despite its population.

They revealed this at one of the interaction meetings the Ministers has been holding across the country to check on how the ministry is doing in as far as service delivery is concerned, and also to get feedback and ideas from the customers on how they think the ministry can best serve them. They availed that it is surprising that a big village like Mahotshwane does not have a Kgosi to settle cases whereas in settlements like Thankane, smaller in population, that is not the case.

Regarding developments in the village, the residents expressed concerns about the infrastructural developments especially roads that are not accessible during rainy seasons. They also decried shortage of transport as another hindrance that somehow makes developments to not reach their village as is the case in other areas that boast of such structures. Nonetheless they were very happy about the Ipelegeng programme, saying it has substantially assisted majority of the residents who could not afford formal employment.

The VDC chairperson stated that “the numbers of the beneficiaries have thus increased from 40 to 130 workers as at April 2012, and this has significantly improved the standard of living in the area”.

When responding to some of the concerns, the Minister firstly applauded the village for taking the Ipelegeng programme seriously saying that is the intention of the government. The minister said he was very impressed about the developments taking place in the village as seen during the Mabutsane Market show held recently. On various developments that are not taking place in the village, the minister explained how financially constrained government is because of the world economic meltdown. “This has prompted government to freeze some projects and prioritise on others like education, health and water provision, but as the situation improves, all those projects will be revisited, he explained.

However, Siele encouraged residents, especially the youth, to in the mean time, take cognizance of government programmes such as Limid, youth grants, Ispaad and others to improve their living conditions while government is still trying other ways of creating formal employment. He said government is very concerned about the welfare of its people hence it continues to improve these programmes to better their lives. “That is why she engaged consultant to look into Ipelegeng programme on how it can be improved.