Summit 2018: Mabutsane Sub District Council

Mabutsane is a Botswana village located in the Southern district, sub district of Ngwaketse West. According to the 2011 census, the village has 2,386 inhabitants. Mabutsane RAC is about 120km away from Jwaneng town along the trans Kalahari road. The sub district has 6 RAPD villages, mostly source of income is farming.

Mabutsane Sub District Council does not have a gender champion but Ms Thatayotlhe Phiri is the council’s gender focal person. The council has a women’s commissioner and the gender focal person who all form part of the gender committee.

Mabutsane sub-district has 47% women representation in the council, which are 2 female councillors amongst 6 male councillors. There are 147 women in the council’s overall staff of 280 employees. Women also make up 59% of the management staff of 27 and there are 6 youth in the management staff. Women head both the electrical and the commercial department. The council offers maternity leave to pregnant women and feeding hour for female employees who are lactating mothers. The council also runs a pre-school.

There are market places in each village under the sub district, which are accessible to both men and women. The council also has entrepreneurship finance schemes that the community can benefit from. One woman was an Ipelegeng tender valued at P 300,000.00 and 10 youth were awarded tenders worth the sum of P 398,788.00.There is also a 10% quota reserved for the empowerment of women and other disadvantaged groups. The council moreover solicited 3 women to cook for children at a retreat camp hosted for orphans and paid them P2400.00 each.

There are two women funded through the poverty eradication programme, to make crafts out of recycled material. These women were funded with P15, 000.00 each. The council also has a disaster committee trained to assist during the rainy season. The council does not allocate land but it does provide housing for male and female destitute persons. It also has a water and sanitation committee.

In its efforts towards SRHR promotion and HIV/AIDS awareness, this year the council will host AIDS Awareness Day commemorations in Maokane village in December. The council also regularly engaged the community on the subject matter through Kgotla meetings. The council work hand in hand with District Aids coordination office and DAMSEC,on the 14^th of Feb  couples tested for HIV/AIDS at Maokane village.

Mabutsane Sub District Council gender budget for the 2017 to 2018.

There are streetlights in the Sekgoma and Mabutsane villages to prevent GBV instances like rape and once more, the community is engaged through Kgotla meetings. This Council has conducted the I story for men during the Botswana GBV study and currently undertaking the sunrise campaign.

Multiple roles by the gender focal person make it difficult to concentrate solely on gender activities. There is also lacking commitment towards gender mainstreaming by other members of the gender committee.

It is important for the gender committee and management to work together to ensure that gender mainstreaming is carried out smoothly. COE work can be sustained through the provision of funds solely for gender activities support form management and through benchmarking other more established councils.

Click here to read more about the Mabutsane Sub district Council.