Developments reach New Xade
The dominant tribes in this settlement are the indigenous people of Southern Africa, ‘ Basarwa’ predominantly Cuikhoe, Qhlanakwe Basarwa, Bakgalagadi and Batshela.
New Xade settlement, now gradually turning into a well developed village has always found itself dominating news headlines.
The latest being that of a family of a Mosarwa who lost with costs at the High Court but appealing the order to have the remains of their 75 year old father, Pitseng Gaoberekwe buried in New Xade and not inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve ( CKGR) as per their wish.
Justice Itumeleng Segopolo recently ruled that as per the Destitute Policy which states that the deceased should be buried where he resided and received social benefits, the deceased should be buried in New Xade. The order has opened yet another legal battle which means Gaoberekwe’s body, which has been lying in the mortuary since December 2021, will continue being there pending a Court of Appeal decision.
New Xade is one of the settlements which are relatively developed, compared to other rural places. It is located approximately 110 km east of Gantsi Town in Gantsi East Sub District. It was established in 1997 when its residents were relocated from settlements in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, such as Xade, Mothomelo, Metseamanong, Kikao, Gugama and Gope and has a population of 1269.
The dominant tribes in this settlement are the indigenous people of Southern Africa, ‘ Basarwa’ predominantly Cuikhoe, Qhlanakwe Basarwa, Bakgalagadi and Batshela.
Their life style is dominated by farming, both arable farming and pastoral. They mostly keep livestock such as cattle and goats. They also plough for consumption, mostly cowpeas, maize and water melons among others. They plough approximately 170 hectares yearly.
The access to the village is through a 100 km gravel road branched from the A3 road from Gantsi. The village has infrastructure such as maternity clinic, primary school with a boarding hostel facility, a mini- RAC housing offices for Social welfare and community Development, Youth offices and Crops production. There is also a Police station, OSET offices and veterinary offices; however, veterinary services and crop production have no permanent officers.
They also have clean running water and the village is electrified. All three mobile networks have 4G connections available. New Xade has one Cooperative, two liquor Bars, one square deal, and one butchery store. Informal sector is made of nine tuck shop and three hawkers. Government aided projects that are currently functioning include Brick yard, Bakery and a tailor. The community farm and the cattle watering point are under construction pending funds to complete them.
There is a preschool, currently owned by the Village Development Committee ( VDC). VDC is also in possession of two houses and four- one roomed houses for rent.
In an interview with BG News, Gantsi District Commissioner, Mooketsi Lesetedi said the village has got 164 registered destitutes of which 112 are females and 52 males. There are 34 registered orphans being 18 females and 16 males, as well as eight registered Community Home Based Care, composed of six female and three males.
Lesetedi said the main challenges faced by the community are high school dropout rates with poor results especially Junior Certificate results, alcohol abuse by both youth and elders, high unemployment rate and high dependence on government for survival. Lesetedi described New Xade community as very cooperative unless they hold a strong view different from public officers.
Recently, in their contributions on how the future constitution should look like, in a Kgotla meeting, during the ongoing Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution of Botswana session, some of the residents called for the creation of new portfolios of Prime Minister and district governors to be created to ensure better coordination of service delivery in government. They argued that councils were largely failing to discharge their mandates owing to the absence of these portfolios. They further called for Councils to address the situation.
In their view, the Prime Minister would come in third in the order of command after the president and vice president. The governor would on the other hand, replace council secretaries and be the custodians of executive powers that the councils would be enjoying. The residents feel that the two offices will work together for the good of the public.
The governors will supervise the work of their respective councils and they shall report to their overall authority being the Prime Minister. New Xade residents also suggested that the clergy should be recognised and each village and town assigned an official pastor, arguing that pastors play a key role in society. They proposed for the law to provide for official pastors to be paid a monthly salary, adding that the positions should be held on rotational basis with each pastor holding office for 12 months only.