From the total 6288 beneficiaries registered and assisted under the North West District Council’s destitute programme, there has reportedly never been anyone who graduated from the reliance on these social welfare programmes.
This was revealed by the NWDC chairperson, Itumeleng Kelebetseng who has since vowed to see the beneficiaries graduating from social welfare programmes and break the chain of destitution in their families.
From the 6288 beneficiaries, 2179 are said to be permanent destitute persons, 476 are in the temporary destitute programmes while 3124 are needy students.
Speaking in an interview, Kelebetseng said though they have not had any beneficiary graduating, they intend to have a number of them graduating through a tailor made social welfare programme which will improve their socio economic standards.
He indicated that from the targeted 56 beneficiaries for the rehabilitation programme, they have already assisted only three beneficiaries who have ventured into catering, bakery and backyard nursery respectively.
Kelebetseng noted that though they have a limited budget they are experiencing a high number of requests for enrolment in the destitute programme. He indicated that they are also facing a challenge of delayed enrolment of beneficiary into the program due to limited resources to undertake assessments.
Meanwhile Kelebetseng has indicated that with only 14 month left to his term as council chairman, it would not be realistic to have a road map. The chairman has however vowed to ensure that they influence the completion of on-going projects, with more emphasis on district infrastructure development and maintenance.
The chairman stated that since the government has decreased revenue for councils, NWDC will through their newly formed income generating committee embark on a benchmarking mission to Francistown City Council on strategies they can use for income generation.
Meanwhile Kelebetseng has assured that they will not be competing with existing local businesses but they will rather partner with them for their empowerment.
