Residents beg for better cell service
Young people in Mutale say the poor cell phone reception in the area makes it difficult for them to access tertiary institutions.
THOHOYANDOU – Young people in Mutale say the poor cell phone reception in the area makes it difficult for them to access tertiary institutions.
This emerged at the public participation programme Imbizo that the mayor of Mutale, Sarah Rammbuda, hosted in Ha-Gumbu village last Tuesday.
“We have to climb trees to make or receive cell phone calls and SMS’es,” Mmbulaheni Makhura, who represented the young people of the area, told the Imbizo.
He said he did very well in gr. 12 and applied to several universities, but the universities were not able to reach him by email or telephone to tell him there were some problems with his applications.
“I only received the message a few days later and by then it was too late, the application deadline had passed. Now I sit at home and wait for next year’s applications to open,” he said.
“I urge our municipality to address our cell phone reception problem. It is also very difficult to reach help in emergencies.”
Ntanganedzeni Masikhwa, a local resident, said the poor cell phone reception meant that residents miss out on job opportunities.
“Nowadays employers contact you on your cell phone when you have applied for a job and are a suitable candidate. Our phones never work thanks to the poor reception and employers cannot reach us,” said Masikhwa.
Other issues that the residents discussed with Rammbuda included the long distances their children had to travel by foot to get to school. They begged her to initiate a scholar transport system for the area.
Rammbuda said the plans for just such a transport system were already in the works and she promised to find ways for the area to receive better cell phone services.
“A company that specialises in cell phone networks and connections in rural areas, Universal Service and Access Agency, contacted the Mutale Municipality last year. We negotiated a deal with this company that I hope the Ha-Gumbu, Ha-Tshenzhelani and Ha-Sigonde villages will benefit from,” she said.
Rammbuda told the residents that it was very important for them to attend all integrated development plan (IDP) meetings when invited by the municipality so that they could inform the decision making process.
“We are a municipality that listens to poor communities and we want to change our people’s lives for the better,” she concluded.
