Orlando Chauke
LIMPOPO – In 2013 the mayor made a promise to the community of Msengi Village that the municipality, in conjunction with the government, would attend to their service delivery grievances.
Residents had staged protests complaining of poor roads infrastructure and demanded a tarred road in order to help improve accessibility of both private and public transportation in their village after taxi drivers complained that the rough gravel road was damaging their vehicles.
Speaking during a municipal public participation event last Friday, which was aimed at assessing the progress on the work done by the municipality and the government as whole since the promise, the Greater Giyani Mayor, Pat Hlungwani outlined the progress made since his last visit to the village.
“When we first came here you told us that you needed a tarred road and floodlights, and we said we would do it for you,” explained the mayor, who also said he was there to check on the progress of that road and the other projects between the municipality and government in the village.
“To show that we’re a government that listens to the people, today we’re proud to say the road that you wanted tarred is being prepared to be tarred,” he boasted.
“Apart from the floodlights and culvert bridge we had officially opened today, the municipality has completed a number of other projects here and in other villages around Giyani, including electrification, sanitary toilets and housing,” he added.
‘Employ Giyani youth for projects’
Msengi Youth Representative, Tiyani Ndlovu, told Hlungwani that they want the municipality to prioritise the employment of youth in the tarring project in order to reduce the crime rate that resulted from poverty.
“More than 80% of the youth in this area is unemployed and we, therefore, asked the mayor to ensure that 60% of the youth is employed in the road tarring project,” Ndlovu said.
