POLOKWANE – ‘The completion of this road project is a dream come true and a relief to the community’s suffering.’
These were the words of Mpalo Mack Thinyane, an elderly citizen at the official handover of the 4.3km road to the community by the Polokwane municipality on Wednesday at Mantheding village in Ga-Dikgale.
Accordign to Polokwane municipality, the delivery of the project forms part of the services that it had promised as part of its mandate to improve the lives of its residents.
Mr. Thinyane said the road comes as a relief to the community of Mantheding as previously it was difficult to access public transport in order for them to access other social, health and financial amenities. “The community used public transport some distance away behind a mountain because of the bad condition of the gravel road, this posed safety risks to the community.”
Thinyane was particularly happy because he was part of an IDP and budget consultation meeting where the bad state of the road connecting the village was raised with the municipality for inclusion in the IDP for implementation.
The municipality led by the head of roads, storm water and transportation services portfolio Cllr Sinah Tjale, the council speaker, Cllr Caiphus Mathiba and the council chief-whip, Cllr Mamedupi Teffo, handed over the road to the community at a small gathering as part of its roads project visit in the Sebayeng Cluster.
Cllr Tjale said this was a two-phased multi year project that was started in 2014 at a combined cost of approximately R17 million.
She said the project also contributed towards putting some bread on the table for about 98 families in the area and also towards skills development as it was part of the contract to skill the local community.
Speaking on behalf of the community and the Dikgale traditional office, Mr Sekoti Dikgale said the community is impressed with the quality of the road and further pleaded with the community to ensure that they take care of the road as it now becomes a community asset that improves the quality of their lives.
