COUNCILORS’ WALK-OUT
Chaos erupts at South East District council over funds P1, 7 million subvention at the centre of the row
Chaos erupted at the South-East District full council meeting this past Monday with some councilors moving to boycott proceedings for what they termed unfair distribution of developments.
The South East District Council is made up of the sub district councils of Ramotswa and Tlokweng. On the day of the disruption on Monday, some Tlokweng Sub District councillors felt aggrieved, complaining that their village was being disadvantaged while Ramotswa is repeatedly favoured in terms of developments. The bone of contention this time was the Road Fund Levy.
“We are unhappy. We have always known that the Road Fund Levy is used to develop both Ramotswa and Tlokweng on rotational basis. Ramotswa was the last to benefit from the previous funds.
“We are now shocked that the recently released monies by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development went to Ramotswa again,” an unhappy Tlokweng Sub Council Chief Whip, Collen Mochotlhi said.
Mochotlhi said he is shocked that the monies this time came bearing directives from above.
“We are failing to understand why the funds came with strict instructions this time around, we have never known that the ministry can dictate to council what it should do with the monies,” Mochotlhi told The Midweek Sun on Tuesday.
He admitted that they ended up boycotting the meeting on Monday because they needed the matter to be attended to.
Another aggrieved Tlokweng councillor Seilatsatsi Kgokong of Khaekholo ward took her frustrations to social media, saying the money was supposed to be given to Tlokweng and not to Ramotswa because they equally have pending projects that must be completed.
In her post, Kgokong went to the extent of even calling for Tlokweng to be a stand alone District.
However, information reaching The Midweek Sun is that the said councilors were dishonest in their submissions made at facebook. Both Mochotlhi and Kgokong wrote something similar on social media, saying they had boycotted the meeting to protest unfair distribution of the funds from the Roads Levy.
Other authorities who attended the council proceedings dismissed the facebook posts as lies and a misrepresentation of what really happened. Although the district officials would not allow to be quoted because they are not the responsive authorities on council meetings, Deputy Council Chairperson Douglas Kereng would however confirm that what they later read on social media indeed did not represent what transpired at the meeting.
“We were equally shocked to see those posts. What I know is that at the start of the full council meeting, Mochotlhi asked the Chairperson to allow for the inclusion of some savingram to be read and discussed during the proceedings. The Chairperson allowed for that intervention after Mochotlhi’s request was backed by the Tlokweng Sub District Council Chairperson Phillip Mfolo. Although they did not state what the savingram was about, they were advised on procedure, that the savingram would be given attention when the right time comes, but they insisted the Chairperson should deal with it immediately. It was when they were advised on procedure that Mfolo opted to walk out of the meeting, and he was followed by other Tlokweng councilors in pulling out of the meeting. We are shocked that they then went to social media to say they boycotted the meeting because Ramotswa councilors voted against them to have Tlokweng funds used in Ramotswa. There was never any vote for that matter, they just failed to appreciate procedure,” Kereng said in an interview.
Asked to comment on what really transpired, Mfolo would only say, “I will not comment on that matter.”
South-East District Council Chairman Oshima Peloewetse also dismissed claims that there are favours being done either for Ramotswa or Tlokweng.
“There is nothing like that, as far as I know there has never been any money coming to us from the ministry and labelled Tlokweng or Ramotswa; I do not really understand why fingers are now being pointed that Ramotswa is being developed and Tlokweng neglected,” Peloewetse said.
The South East District Council boss explained that in 2019, the ministry responsible for development of roads told them that they would be handing over the newly-built Boatle-Gaborone road project, which is part of the A1 road, to the district council.
“I refused because the Ramotswa bus rank at Boatle had no bathrooms and that maintaining other amenities on the road like street lights and bus stops would take a toll on our finances. That is how the ministry later said the Road Levy Funds be used for the completion of the project, to build the toilets and to buy a cherry picker to help maintain the street lights,” he said.
He revealed that the funds amounted to P1.7 million, and that the money had been pending from the 2019 request, which the Tlokweng councilors in question may not have understood. He added that the matter was never discussed during the meeting, only seen at facebook.
“Yes they stormed out of the meeting but we continued with council business as we still formed a quorum. That matter was never even brought up the next day,” he said.
Asked what their next step will be, Mochotlhi said they met with the Ministry of Roads and Rural Development.
“After speaking with them I believe an understanding has been reached. The monies will be given to Tlokweng,” a confident Mochotlhi said.
Yet the District Council chairperson and his deputy were in the dark about the meeting Mochotlhi told The Midweek Sun about. “If such a meeting took place it would be shocking as it would have flouted procedure. No such meeting with the ministry by councilors would happen without going through council, and I doubt the ministry would even redirect the funds which they know very well why they had to direct for the completion of the project in Boatle, because there is pressure to start using the bus rank,” Kereng said when asked about claims by Mochotlhi.