The People’s Ministry held its inaugural PITSO on the 31st August 2011 in Tonota. The premise of the PITSO was to provide a platform for robust debates, intro­spection and networking on various issues relating to Community Devel­opment.

This auspicious event attracted Dikgosi, Members of Parliament, Council Chairpersons and Mayors, Councilors, Non - Governmental Or­ganizations, community leaders and stakeholders to look into activities and most importantly to facilitate a forum for feedback on the perfor­mance of the Ministry.

During Hon. Minister Lebon­aamang Mokalake’ s keynote ad­dress at the PITSO, he noted that “our gathering here today is in line with the principle of (consultation) ther­isanyo, which will provide us with the opportunity to devise strategies and provoke our thoughts on the way forward for socioeconomic de­velopment in our country”.

The PITSO came amid increas­ing concerns from all quarters that, poverty remains widespread in the country despite significant econom­ic progress made over the years. It must be noted there is still over-dependence amongst the citizenry on government social safety nets.

Furthermore, Hon. Mokalake not­ed that, “community development is a participatory grass roots process that promotes dialogue between community members and devel­opment authorities in addressing community developmental issues, hence we are gathered here today”.

In this context, The People’s Min­istry plays a key role in the better­ment of lives of citizens adopted the community resilience concept, on the backdrop of the waning self-help spirit, high levels of poverty and over-dependence on government for sustainable living. It must also be noted that, urgent and concrete ac­tions are needed realize Vision 2016, the United Nations Millennium De­velopment Goals and the Govern­ment’s Poverty Eradication Initiative.

Hon. Mokalake pointed out that communities are the foundation of our society, and therefore commu­nity development cannot be fully achieved without their participa­tion. The People’s Ministry thus rec­ognizes the essence of consultation (therisanyo) in carrying out its ob­jectives. Hon. Mokalake went on to encourage communities to be the drivers of their own socioeconomic development while the ministry fa­cilitates and assist them to unleash their potential.

Members of the public had the chance to voice their opinions on various issues of community devel­opment and how they can mobilize and ready their communities for so­cioeconomic development.