Francistown — A motion calling for the privatisation of refuse collection in Francistown failed to pass muster last week when councillors voted 12-6 to throw it out. The motion was tabled by councillor Phillip Butale.

The councillor suggested that refuse collection should be outsourced since the council is not doing the job properly. Butale complained that the council workers disturb peace when they collect refuse in the early hours of the morning when people are sleeping.

Councillor Rebecca Nshakashokwe supported the motion saying that that it is in line with one of the pillars of Vision 2016 which encourages Batswana to have a clean and healthy environment. She said that the council's department of environmental affairs lack resources and manpower and this delays refuse collection in the city. She said outsourcing refuse collection is a good idea since it will empower Batswana.

Councillor James Kgalajwe supported Butale's motion and said that privatising refuse collection will improve service delivery and boost the economy.Council is not a good businessman,he quipped. He added that most of the councils around the country have privatised refuse collection with impressive results and Francistown City Council (FCC) is lagging behind.

Nominated councillor Baboni Mosalagae opposed the motion. He said that if private contractors are hired to collect refuse the 206 FCC workers are likely to lose their jobs. This is because contractors may want to employ only 25 or 50 people. He said that a pilot project to privatise services at the council has failed. Clean up campaigns are also not effective as unsupervised workers end up sleeping under trees.

Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) councillor Motlatsi Molapise opposed the motion strongly saying that privatisation breeds corruption at the council. He said that the tendering process takes too long and this causes suspicion. Molapisi said that councillors unfairly win the tenders since they have influence and inside information at the council offices.

But in defence of the motion, Butale said:Ga bana mabaka ba dumela gore toropo e leswe. He added that the main issue is keeping the town clean.