Lesotho: Qacha’s Nek Urban Council

Qacha’s Nek urban council is located in Qacha’s Nek Lesotho. It capital town is Qacha’s Nek and is the only town in this region. Qacha’s Nek borders on the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and is the only practical entry point from this province.

The council has worked very hard to see that Gender policy, action plan, GBV action plan were reviewed and implemented within their council even though they did not have budget. This is something that the council is very proud of. The total number of councillors is 14, nine men and five women; is chaired by a man and deputized by a woman. The council has four committees, two of which are chaired by women and the other two by men.

People engage equally in public gatherings that are held by the council, representation from youth and people living with the disability (PWD) is acceptable and all the decisions taken are agreed on and  beneficial to all of them. Between 75% and 100%, women participate in public gatherings and they make sure that their opinions are heard and taken into considerations, they make sure they are there in all the committees.

The Management of the council consists of one male in management position being the Town Clerk and Assistant Administration Officer being a woman. There are also  two clerical assistants and two being the watchmen, two messengers which makes total of 5 men; whilst there are two female physical planners, two are in Finance, another 2 are and six office assistants which makes 11 women in total

There is a provisions of three months maternity leave and three months of nursing hours after the first three months of maternity leave. However the council does not have sexual harassment policy but cases are reported at the police stations.

In terms of flexi time the council has created competitions throughout in which Councillors and officials participate equally in sports and other traditional sports. The competitions even go to the district level and extend towards the country level as well as SADC level. The council makes annual celebrations in which public servants and the elected officials come together and share successes and failures as well as becoming conversant with each other.

Qacha’s Nek Urban Council gender budget allocations for the 2017 to 2018.

As part of the of the Council’s local economic development plan the Council has allocated 16 market stalls to women out 20 market stalls as a way of empowering women as they are mostly engaged in small businesses. It has also advertised 26 residential sites and 23 commercial sites and applications were accessible to both men and women. In an effort to empower women, the Council allocated commercial site to the women’s society called Basali Khoebong.

In terms of employment creation 100 women and 80 men were hired by the council and their wages are the same. In terms of the climate change; the Council uses national policy on climate change and enforce individuals and companies to do Environmental Impact Assessment before implementing projects. The Council employs women and men to clean the areas within the Council and also to plant trees.

The council is working with the Ministry of Social Development in order to engage with care work and it has provided the office space for public servants from the social development department. The Global fund is also having hands on in handing out cash M300.00 per month for people who are involved in edu-care and child care. The global fund works in collaboration with the Council and the Ministry of Health. The Council also has the Volunteering Counselling and Testing VCT section in its office building which supports people living with HIV and AIDS.

Click here to read more about the Qacha’s Nek Urban Council.