POLITICS DELAY CONSTRUCTION OF SHAKAWE NEW SCHOOL
Early last year when North West District Council proposed to build a primary school at Rwee ward in Shakawe, excitement was palpable as some residents stood to benefit from government compensation for ploughing fields that were to pave way for the new development, while parents were glad their children would no longer have to travel nine kilometres daily to and from Khathiana Primary School.
However, Shakawe Mohembo West Councillor, Matsaudi Matsaudi, allegedly sabotaged the project by encouraging field owners to refuse to demand more money than the government had offered, which has since delayed the process.
A series of kgotla meetings followed and in the end government secured land at a different ward. Last week, in a full council meeting, it was announced that Shakawe Sub Land Board has rejected the council’s application to build the school in Rwee.
The argument advanced by the sub land board in a letter dated 17th March, 2022 was that it cannot allocate a plot for a school in a land zoned for agriculture, “The land board shall not make grants of land under this part for any land use which is in conflict with the use for which the land is zoned,” the letter read in part.
According to the councillors, however, the land where government has decided to build the primary school was demarcated under 2006 - 2030 development plan for Shakawe-mohembo at Gauxa ward, which is a long distance from Rwee.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation has advised the council in a savingram to follow the said layout and development plan because “delays on the location of the proposed new school will have an undesirable impact on the commencement of the project, including the resultant cost escalations, compensation of people that will be affected at Rwee ward and provision of support infrastructure and utility services to the school.”
However, this week the council lodged an appeal of the sub land board decision with Tawana Land Board as the majority of councillors want the school at Rwee. In fact, the school has divided the council across political inclinations, with ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in support of the existing development plan to build the school in Gauxa while Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), which holds majority seats in the council, wants the school in Rwee.
Rwee is under UDC control, Gauxa falls under BDP, while the land board is under the control of active BDP members.
“We will be planning out of objective if we agree to this. In the area where they want us to take the school, there are no developments, people have not settled there and even if the school is built there, parents will not register their children because it is located eight or nine kilometres away from residential area,” added the council chairman, Kebareeditse Ntsogotlho.
“What we know is that the same land board has allowed lodges to be built in the same area which they say is for ploughing, but they are depriving the people of Rwee a school in the same area. What this means is that for Shakawe land board, a lodge is more important that building a school for multitudes of children who are the leaders of tomorrow,” added Ntsogotlho.
Ntsogotlho further suggested that if they cannot be allowed to build a school at Rwee, then it cannot be built in Gauxa either. “We will rather not have the school built if its construction will not serve the purpose that it was intended for, if it cannot serve the community of Rwee,” said Ntsogotlho.
In the meantime, BDP Councillor, Mphoyamodimo Lepodise, has noted that the land board was merely following the instructions of the council as the same layout was drawn in the council by the same councillors.
“What they are doing is trying to gain political mileage over this matter. The layout was done by this very same council and now they are turning around and saying it is only a guide. But who will pay compensation for those ploughing fields at Rwee? When they were asked to move, the very same UDC advised them to demand more than what the government had offfered as compensation.”
Nonetheless, Councillor Matsaudi has denied ever encouraging people to cash in with their land and added that currently Rwee residents have pledged their fields in favour of the proposed school.
“Those are unfounded allegations, its political mudslinging, that is what it is. I have always campaigned for the school to be brought to Rwee and seeking land for it and I’m still doing so,” Matsaudi shot back.