North West Planning Commission meeting communities to finalise VTSD plans
The community of Tlakgameng village in Kagisano Molopo Local Municipality has urged the provincial government to provide more farming support in order to eradicate poverty and unemployment in their village.
Making inputs to the draft Villages, Townships and Small Dorpies (VTSD) Development plan in Tlaakgameng yesterday, one of the residents Kgopolang Molale said government must support farming activities in his area because there is water available and land which is not utilised.
“It would be highly appreciated if government can support existing and initiate new agricultural projects in our village.
Many of our people are unemployed. Therefore, we will not hesitate to participate in any project that has the potential to fight poverty and unemployment in our community especially in farming,” he said.
Another community member, Pako Segwati said government has in the past brought several projects to the community. He said, however, that most of those projects have since failed due to lack of further support.
“We do have projects that were initiated in our village but they all failed because our government does not come back to monitor those projects and provide further assistance.
We had, for instance, poultry projects which were doing well when they started but failed because it was difficult for them to penetrate potential markets. Therefore, we will be happy if our government can assist us until we can be able to stand on our own,” he said.
Moses Moepetsane thanked government for the progress it made in developing his village since 1994.
“We applaud our government for performing well. We now have electricity, better schools, clinics, houses, and internal roads which we did not have previously. Our main concern at the moment includes unemployment, poverty and crime,” he said.
North West Planning Commission held similar meetings in other Villages, Townships and Small Dorpies of Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality.
Explaining the importance of the plans to the community, Provincial Planning Commissioner, Godorn Kegakilwe said they were getting inputs from communities and updating existing business profiles in each VTSD in the district.
“We are in the process of finalizing our VTSD Development plan of all four districts in the province and want each Village, Township and Small Dorpie in the province to make inputs in the development of their own communities,” he said.
Kegakilwe thanked the community of Tlaakgameng for their cooperation and good inputs to the plans.
Enquiries:
Mr Brian Setswambung
Acting Provincial Head of Communication
Cell: 076 012 4501
E-mail: bsetswambung@nwpg.gov.za
