‘Develop Mogoditshane into a township’
MOGODITSHANE: As population growth outpaces expansion of urban land consumption, the call for the government to develop Mogoditshane village in the Kweneng district into a township has once again resurfaced.
Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Tumiso Rakgare this week stressed that it is time Mogoditshane becomes a township with its own mayor.
Capital city Gaborone is connected to villages like Mogoditshane, thus the speed and scale of urbanisation has brought many challenges. With many people migrating to the city to find jobs, this has forced Mogoditshane as an urban settlement to meet accelerated demand for affordable housing, well connected transport systems, and other amenities.
Mogoditshane, which borders Gaborone, faces challenges in meeting the needs of the growing urban populations, something that Rakgare agrees with.
He feels the decentralisation policy, which the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Kgotla Autlwetse revealed is on the pipeline, should also reach villages like Mogoditshane.
Rakgare asked Autlwetse, who was presenting his ministry’s request for funds, to help with the aim of developing Mogoditshane into a township. Rakgare said by doing so, part of the burden will be removed from villages like Thamaga, Kumakwane and Takatokwane. “Curtains should close down on this issue. Mogoditshane should have its own mayor and its own budget so that services can easily reach people,” he said.
Already, city leaders across the world are moving expeditiously to plan for growth and provide the basic services such as infrastructure, and affordable housing for their expanding population needs. Mogoditshane is surely one of the areas which have amassed a lot of population since the last Population and Housing Census in 2011 and the population has even spilled to other neighbouring villages like Gabane and
Mmopane. In light of the above, Rakgare revealed that after the 2011 census, Mogoditshane came second after Molepolole as the most populated village in Botswana with 58,000 people. He said in terms of household distribution, Mogoditshane had 19,300 households, a figure which will increase after the upcoming census.
“This shows that there is a problem and I can assure you that when the upcoming census statistics is published, Mogodisthane will come out ahead of Molepolole. This shows that developments have to reach residents of Mogoditshane faster. In order for this to be done faster, Mogoditshane should have its own council so that they can do certain things on their own,” he highlighted.
In terms of the consequence of urbanisation and rising population in his area, Rakgare said the Ministry of Basic Education is failing to meet the demand as more people enrol their children in the only available four primary schools.
“These schools are full and parents do not know where to take their children and this is caused by the population we have in Mogoditshane,” he said.
According to a 2018 United Nations data, 55% of the world’s population lived in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050.
Moreover, according to the data, projections showed that urbanisation, the gradual shift in residence of the human population from rural to urban areas, combined with the overall growth of the world’s population, could add another 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050, with close to 90% of this increase taking place in Asia and Africa.
Looking at the amount of GDP generated in cities across the world, urbanisation can contribute to sustainable growth if managed well by increasing productivity, allowing innovation and new ideas to emerge. One MP who agrees that Mogoditshane could be the solution is Thamaga/ Kumakwane legislator, Palelo Motaosane, who had been reiterating the issue during his time as a councillor.
“If you look at housing and other infrastructure in the village and the issue of rates, Mogoditshane can raise P300 million through rates in a year. They should make it a township so that this sub-district can do its own developments without being burdened by a big village like Mogoditshane,” he added. Motaosane added that the government is denying Mogoditshane a chance to generate its own revenue.
Speaking of revenue, the Local Government Act only allows urban cities to collect property rates but rural councils are not allowed to do the same. As a result, district councils do not have much to explore in terms of revenue generation avenues. Therefore, towns and city councils are way ahead while district councils look towards the central government for support grants. Rakgare and Motaosane outlined that the level of economic activity in Mogoditshane can lead to improved quality of life in the village if the idea to convert it into a township is implemented.
Responding to the comments made by the legislators, Autlwetse agreed that there is a lot of money in Mogoditshane therefore, if this goes on to be implemented, many can benefit from the arrangement.
Autlwetse admitted that the government has realised that certain sub-districts are not relevant anymore because the population has increased since the time they were divided. He said most MPs support decentralisation therefore, it was his intention for the decentralisation policy to have already reached Parliament.
He indicated that after the consultations stage, now there is only one stage left before it can reach Parliament and that is Cabinet.
The minister also said because of the budget, they have recommended that decentralisation be done in phases, therefore the intention is to upgrade 29 sub-districts into districts and 19 service centres into sub-districts. He said this will be done to bring services to people.
While this decentralisation policy is seen as a Messiah to improve the lives of both urban and rural dwellers, Mogoditshane if turned into a township, is expected to come out as a linkage between urban and rural life, and perhaps build on existing economic, social and environmental ties.