MOPANI: Mohlabaneng community outraged
"It has now gone past the first month of the year and we have not been told anything..."
Communities in the Bolobedu region are at constant, recurring war with the Greater Letaba Municipality over the lack of service delivery that they are getting.
On Thursday, the MOPANI HERALD was alerted by a displeased community member from Ward 19, Stanley Sethabola, about the poor service delivery that is being experienced by the community.
He stated that they first took up their concerns with the Mayor of the Greater Letaba Municipality, Peter Matlou, in October 2018 and they were responded to by the Mayor that he would first wait on receiving word about the budget that the municipality will have for the following year.
“It has now gone past the first month of the year and we have not been told anything.
“We have since sent in another memorandum of complaints to the Mayor, in which we will give him only until Friday, February 8, to respond to respond to us,” exclaimed Sethabola.
Sethabola further stated that the main concerns they have are that of water and a better road from Mokwakwaila to Mohlabaneng.
“There is a borehole here, but water is only received by a selected few and that does not make sense to those of us who made endless pleas to receive water in the area.
The water supply cuts through lines of houses and the rest of us get nothing,” said Sethabola.
The spokesperson of the Greater Letaba Municipality, Lovers Maenetja, told the HERALD that the issues that the community of Ward 19 are faced with currently, are a matter for the District Municipality.
“The local municipality cannot direct funds for district matters and thus the district should be involved in resolving these issues,” stated Maenetja.
In attempt to find out whether or not the community understands which issues should be directed to which municipality, the HERALD spoke to Witness Tiva, spokesperson of the District Municipality, wherein he suggested that there might be a misunderstanding of which service delivery is provided by which municipality among the communities in and around Bolobedu.
“People should inform their Ward Councillors of any problems that arise within their communities and they will forward these concerns to us, as the district municipality,” exclaimed Tiva.
He further stated that the District Municipality has since started a campaign to equip all the dysfunctional boreholes in and around Bolobedu so that they may have a supply of water going into communities; stating that with the low level of water in the dams, it has become hard for boreholes to have sufficient amount of water to sustain an entire community and that the district municipality is looking into intervention methods that can bypass the current issue on water supply.
