Haskins Nkaigwa

"This is very disappointing. I have tried to engage the President, the Attorney General and ministry officials to no avail. Clearly they don’t want the council to succeed under my tenure. I am now denied access to the Office of the President."

"Whenever there is a problem the people look at the mayor and the councillors. They hold the people that they elected accountable. They want answers from us when in fact we are just ceremonial figures."

"Our system creates mayors who are not empowered by structures of governance. We have mayors who are just ceremonial, who cannot act on the mandate of their communities."

"I really don’t have input on the way the council is run. The resolutions made by council are just a waste of time because management is not bound to implement any of them."

"It is our believe as Gaborone City Council Councillors that due to the fact that the city is growing and we are challenged with shortages of land, there is need to properly and efficiently utilise the little land in our possession."

"Let us not forget our history that although we continue to be troubled by stray livestock from Tlokweng, Gaborone was built on Batlokwa land, hence the need to recognise their importance to the existence of our city."

"We have also held consultative meetings with the leadership of South East District to try and address such challenges."

"The Roman Catholic Church which owns a big chunk of land are open to some arrangements and give Government some land. Government is not willing to sit down with them."

"We cannot have older men who continue sleeping with children. Ba tshwanetse go fag*****."

"Those wanting me to remain in the UDC fold should know that I will still be serving and representing them at the Gaborone North constituency without any fear or favouritism. My political affiliation will not change who I am."

"Resign? Why should I resign over petty utterances motivated by witch hunting? I cannot resign over allegations that do not have evidence. This is just a moment of storms in the life of a child of God. Opposing forces are always out to destroy you. These people are just dragging my name in the mud."

"But unfortunately we have a situation where most of the contractors doing projects in Gaborone are not Batswana. You will find that Asian contractors have taken all the jobs and this does not help in citizen empowerment."