Member of Parliament (MP) for Thamaga-Kumakwane, Pelaelo Motaosane, has called for the arrest of former members of the Ramaphatle Village Development Committee (VDC) who are alleged to have refused to hand over property to the new VDC.
It emerged during a kgotla meeting on Friday that since the new committee took over last year, the old committee has refused to handover financial books, keys for houses, and other things that were in their custody by virtue of being VDC members.
“You must report this matter to the police and these people should be arrested immediately,” said the visibly annoyed MP who added that he has observed that some people treat public offices as a quick route to self-enrichment.
“VDC is not the place for people to enrich themselves. No, it is an opportunity for people to serve the community and come up with ideas for developments of their villages,” he said.
Ramaphatle village is located between Thamaga, Mmankgodi and
Kumakwane and was declared a village less than a decade ago.
However, there are reports of divisions along tribal lines between Bakgatla baga
Mmanaana, Bakwena, and Bahurutshe.
It has also emerged that the residents are often thrown from pillar to post
when seeking government services as they are either sent to Mogoditshane Sub District
or Thamaga for assistance.
The residents depend on the services of a mobile clinic but sometimes the
clinic fails to turn up for two to three months without any explanation from
the authorities, something which they said puts their infants at risk.
A request for a kgotla stamp has been pending for close to a decade and the issue was raised once again during the meeting and the MP promised to make a follow up on the matter.