The Diarrhea Outbreak in Kweneng District

The diarrhea outbreak experienced countrywide with some districts experiencing under-five deaths has not spared the Kweneng District.

Addressing the full council meeting on Monday, the council chairperson, Mr Motlhophi Leo said the district had so far recorded 12 cases of diarrhoea outbreak and one death.

“The awful illness has now hit closer to home with all the 12 cases recorded in Kweneng East while Kweneng West has not recorded any cases for now,” he said.

Still on health issues, the council chairperson disclosed that the district was experiencing an acute shortage of both vital and essential drugs.

He said this had been a long-standing problem since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a consequence, he said the Central Medical Stores had not been able to meet the demands of all the District Health Management Teams across the country and as such private pharmacies had been overwhelmed with demand.

“During the first quarter availability of vital drugs stood at 62 per cent while essential drugs availability was at 48 per cent,” he said.

On other issues he told councillors that the council was burdened by litigation cases of projects year in and year out resulting in project delays.

To date, he said Kweneng District Council had a total of 20 cases before the courts with some cases emanating from projects that the council was carrying out.

Among the cases before the courts was construction project of two schools at Mogoditshane Block 9 and Kumakwane, which were awarded in October 2021 and the project was halted by a court case filed by one of the bidders.

However, he said the matter was heard by the Court of Appeal in an expedited appeal on August 19.

Judgement was delivered this past Friday in favour of the council.

He said this meant that the council would proceed to sign the contracts and commence construction of the two schools.

Another long-standing matter, he said, involved the Molepolole Bus Terminus and associated works project in which the High Court had previously ordered the council to pay the contractor money certified to be due from the final account.

However, in the latest turn of events, Kweneng District Council successfully managed to appeal the matter and the court had since ruled that the matter be remitted to the High Court to be heard by a different judge.

The matter has thus been allocated to another Judge.

Another matter, he said, involved a long-standing dispute over a cemetery allocated to Kweneng District Councilby the land board.

The matter has not been concluded and was back before the Land Tribunal after the matter was stayed pending appeal by the applicant.