Odd Street naming in Selebi Phikwe
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SELEBI PHIKWE: In what seems to be a lack of understanding of the guidelines, the Local Authority here has approved very strange names for the streets, roads and public facilities.
Selebi Phikwe Town Council (SPTC) on Thursday told the media that all streets, roads, public facilities and areas within its jurisdiction that are named after people will carry their work titles to indicate right away in what capacity is the person being honoured. Here, an area, road, street or public facility named after a teacher, its name will have to reflect that the person was a teacher. An example is an industrial area in Botshabelo location which has been named ‘Councillor Tidimane,’ named after the late Michael Tidimane, one of the renowned councillors for that area. This will be the pattern in Selebi Phikwe which is inconsistent with the rest of the country. Unique but strange.
Lazarus Kolanyane, SPTC’s Chief Physical Planner says this arrangement is as per the Local Government Act, No. 18 of 2012 which has informed the formulation of guidelines that Local Authorities around the country use for the naming exercise. However, this particular item of prefixing the names with occupational titles is not stipulated in the very same guidelines that the council has used for this purpose. Kolanyane is nevertheless adamant that their arrangement is guided by the national guidelines notwithstanding the fact that this strange prefixing is not expressly stipulated on the said guidelines.
The draft National Guidelines on Naming of Streets, Roads and Public Facilities of 2014 that the council has used, provide general guidance on the procedures to be followed in the naming exercise by the Local Authorities. It is stipulated in the guidelines that “in naming the streets and public facilities, the Local Authorities shall ensure that the guidelines are followed in order to achieve consistency throughout the country.”
As it stands, if SPTC execute its naming and re-naming project in its current form, the national consistency will not be achieved as Selebi Phikwe will be different from all other areas in the country. The guidelines regulates and standardizes the processes associated with the naming and re-naming and it informs and influences the types of names that are chosen from various features as well as spell out the procedure that should be followed in the naming and re-naming process. But Selebi Phikwe dares to be different.
The Director of Local Government Development Planning, Tshepo Mophuting has however dismissed SPTC’s prefixing arrangement as inconsistent with the guidelines which are binding and must be followed by all local authorities undertaking the naming or re-naming exercise. He explained that the use of people’s names is recognised as being a way of honouring certain individuals for their contribution to the development of the country, their towns or districts.
Mophuting further explained that the issue of why a particular individual is chosen only come as reasons motivating why the person has to be honoured but not explicitly coming out as part of the name. He stressed that the naming must be aligned with accepted planning procedures and current trends.
Meanwhile, Mophuting has also explained the reason why Botswana still continue to honour the dead instead of the living even though the law permits that people still alive can also have streets, roads and public facilities named after them. He says the discomfort lies in that people who are still alive may in one way or the other cause damage to their illustrious reputations in the course of their remaining lives thus tarnishing their honour.
However, former president of South Africa, the late Nelson Mandela has streets and roads named after him here in Botswana, an honour that he received while he was still alive. The Director says only in exceptional circumstances will the names of living persons be given consideration. Without explaining the circumstances, he said here at home the late Julia Molefe was also honoured while she was still alive. Block 9 clinic in Gaborone was named Julia Molefe Clinic and she enjoyed the honour while she still lived. In the rare event that the names of living persons are considered, the names shall only be sanctioned by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.
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Local tennis team upbeat ahead of Billie Jean King cup
With almost two weeks until the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, which will be staged in Kenya from June 12-17, 2023, the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) ladies’ team coach, Ernest Seleke, is optimistic about reaching greater heights.
Billie Jean King Cup, or the BJK Cup, is a premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched as the Federation Cup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The BJK Cup is the world’s largest annual women’s international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The finals will feature 12 teams (Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) competing in the four round-robin groups of three. The four group winners will qualify for the semifinals, and the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup will be crowned after the completion of the knockout phase.
Closer to home, the BW Tennis team is comprised of Thato Madikwe, Leungo Monnayoo, Chelsea Chakanyuka, and Kelebogile Monnayoo. However, according to Seleke, they have not assembled the team yet as some of the players are still engaged.
“At the moment, we are depending on the players and their respective coaches in terms of training. However, I will meet up with Botswana-based players in the coming week, while the United States of America (USA) based player Madikwe will probably meet us in Kenya. Furthermore, Ekua Youri and Naledi Raguin, who are based in Spain and France respectively, will not be joining us as they will be writing their examinations,” said Seleke.
Seleke further highlighted the significance of this competition and how competitive it is. “It is a massive platform for our players to showcase their talent in tennis, and it is very competitive as countries target to get promoted to the world categories where they get to face big nations such as Spain, France, USA, and Italy. Though we are going to this tournament as underdogs because it is our second time participating, I’m confident that the girls will put in a good showing and emerge with results despite the odds,” highlighted Seleke.
Quizzed about their debut performance at the BJK Cup, he said, “I think our performance was fair considering the fact that we were newbies. We came third in our group after losing to North Macedonia and South Africa. We went on to beat Uganda, then Kenya in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play Burundi due to heavy rainfall and settled for the position 9/10,” he said.
For her part, team representative Leungo Monnayoo said they are working hard as they aim to do well at the tourney. “The preparations for the tourney have long begun because we practice each and every day. We want to do well, hence we need to be motivated. Furthermore, I believe in my team as we have set ourselves a big target of coming home with the trophy,” she said.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.