Govt sets aside P528 million for Ipelegeng
VP Slumber Tsogwane informed Parliament the re- engineered programme will focus on skill transfer.
The re- engineered Ipelegeng will use P528 million, which reflects a P100 million increment in the current financial year, Parliament has been informed.
Vice President and Leader of the House, Slumber Tsogwane told parliament that this is meant to support the re- engineered vocational approach that Ipelegeng will take. “I wish to emphasise that the envisaged transformation should not be imagined as a theoretical exercise but an opportunity whenever possible for skills transfer.”
Tsogwane was answering a question asked by Member of Parliament for Maun and Leader of the Opposition, Dumelang Saleshando who asked him to state how far government was with the transformation process of the Ipelegeng Programme, and when the transformation can be expected.
In his response, Tsogwane who would later face a series of supplementary questions from members of the opposition, who were not happy with his answer, highlighted some important facts regarding the chronology of events surrounding the transformation of Ipelegeng Programme in the buildup to the 2019 general election.
He said Botswana Democratic Party ( BDP) in its manifesto, made a promise that the labour intensive public works ( Ipelegeng) will be improved to construct long- term beneficial projects. Upon assuming the mandate to rule, the BDP Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development started the process which involved among others, the consideration and review of previous documentation on the performance of the programmes and strategic recommendations that will facilitate and ease the transformation process. Further, that in October 2020, government through cabinet sanctioned the review of Ipelegeng Programme and directed that the programme be re- engineered. President Masisi made a pronouncement in his State of the Nation Address of November 2020, that government has taken a decision to re- engineer the Ipelegeng Programme. This was the same year in which the COVID- 19 pandemic started and government had to ensure amongst others, compliance with the health and safety protocols within the Ipelegeng Programme. This resulted in the temporary suspension of some aspects of the programme especially the labour based projects for
at least five months.
He said during the same time, some Members of Parliament, even reported that government has cancelled the programme, an allegation that the then Minister of Local Government and Rural Development refuted through a statement in parliament of August 2020. Further, during the 2021 financial year, the focus of the programme changed to include more maintenance and construction of projects.
He said the advent of COVID- 19 also brought new initiatives such as cleaning of toilets at schools and other public institutions to help in the fight against the spread of Corona virus.
Tsogwane said some of the key elements of the transformed Ipelegeng Programme as articulated by President Masisi during his SONA of 2021 are production and sustainability which will be achieved through focus on construction and maintenance of public facilities. “We also aim to empower beneficiaries through capacity building, skills development that will help them to earn a living, post Ipelegeng.”
He said government is aware that the success of this transformation process depends on forging complementarities between the Ipelegeng programme and other development programmes. “This is achieved by leveraging on the already committed resources by ensuring that those linkages are fully exposed and utilised.” Tsogwane further said that this is a multi- stakeholder process and that various stakeholders are engaged in undertaking some of the activities that need to receive full implementation of the transformed programme. “We have developed a concept that will assist us in forging complementarities between the programmes, facilitating capacity building, skill development and addressing productivity, work ethics and mind- set change issues. Remember the Reset Agenda.”
He confirmed that the piloting of the concept is in the South East District. “We are committed to roll out this concept to other districts in the 20222023 financial years,” he said, adding that the provision of labour during construction of houses for extension workers will invariably pass the necessary skills to the participants, formally or informally. He added that the ongoing fencing of cluster ploughing fields is executed in such a way that there is skills transfer.