Berea, Feb. 16 — Construction of footbridges along Senqunyane River and rehabilitation of access roads are among the top priority needs highlighted by Maime community in the foothills of Berea district as the government is set to present the 2026/2027 fiscal year budget.
This emerges as the government through the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Dr. Rets’elisitsoe Matlanyane will deliver the budget speech on Wednesday.
When approached for a comment on Monday, Maime Electoral Division (ED) Community Councilor and also the Chairperson of Makeoane Community Council, Mr. Matee Thamae said for decades, lack of footbridge along Senqunyane River has been their main challenge affecting services delivered at their place.
Mr. Thamae outlined that recently they received some upgrades from the government with the construction of classrooms at Matlali and Maime Primary in support for their children’s education, but lack of footbridges remain a crucial challenge affecting such children to attend classes normally, particularly during the rainy season.
He stressed that if they can experience heavy rains for consecutive days, their children skip classes, further highlighting that the problem is even worse during winter because the water freezes.
Mr. Thamae highlighted that Senqunyane River has claimed many lives of people while trying to connect to other villages, hence their call for the construction of footbridges for public safety.
Maime Community Councilor said they are also looking closely on what will transpire in regard to the budget projections on infrastructure development, citing that lack of access roads is yet another challenge impacting their lives negatively, adding that they are looking forward for the Finance Minister to allocate budget for the construction of gravel road from Mants’onyane linking places like Ha Cheche to Tsoelike.
He further said construction of roads play a pivotal role and if rehabilitation of access roads and bridges be installed, access to services can be easy for Maime community, adding that availability of access roads can well lead to delivery of even more improved services like electricity, health services and easy access to woolsheds.
Maime which is situated in Mosalemane constituency is among the remotely located places in Berea district with the population estimated to be over 2000 which is made mostly by livestock farmers and crops farmers.
Meanwhile, during the 2025/2026 fiscal year budget which was guided by the theme, ‘Building Strategies for Inclusive Growth’, on government expenditure for 2025/26 a budget of M24,1139, 2 million or 55,1 percent of the budget, while the on recurrent expenses, a total of M18, 813,2 million or 42.9 percent GDP was projected, with reflection on commitment to efficient public service delivery.
The capital expenditure was set to increase M5,326.0 million and thus represent 12.1 percent of the GPD with the intention to pursue investment in critical infrastructure and developments.
On the other hand, budget allocation for building enabling infrastructure, the transport and building infrastructure sectors were allocated a budget of M3.2 billion with the aim to facilitate the movement of goods and people, driving economic integration and diversification, foster business growth and promoting the development of both public and private sectors.
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