POLOKWANE – Anyone within the borders of the province who was sent from pillar to post by either a government department or municipality finds recourse within the Standing Committee of Public Participation and assisted on these occasions.
The meetings started on Tuesday, 11 July and will continue for the rest of the week.
On Tuesday, leaders of the Malemati community left the gallery with smiles on their faces as they had at last found a positive story to report to their people about a clinic they had been promised since 2013. The delegation of community leaders took turns in telling their stories of the building that is on a brink of collapse and the danger it poses to both the nurses and patients at the local clinic. The leaders opened up to the Legislature Committee about their frustrations with the Head of Department (HOD) of the Limpopo Department of Health who has been ignoring their calls and complaints.
A group of officials from the Department, led by its HOD Dr. Peter Kgaphola, was cornered to design a response by the committee which had tangible time frames much to the delight of the community leaders. Committee Chairperson, Elias Nong, further requested the department through its MEC to make a sworn promise in the next sitting of the legislature to solidify the promise.
In the meantime, a rickety structure of the Malemati Clinic would be replaced by a mobile clinic as per the instruction of the petition committee.
The second petition was by a community of Ga-Chokoe who were worried about the security of the social grant recipients at their village and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) grant money which seemed to be a little under the supposed amount to some.
Matshidiso Mamabolo, the regional head of SASSA in the province, as summoned by the committee, put an end to community trouble with her proactive kind of leadership response. She outlined how she organised an alternative church pay point against the original tavern. The committee and the community representatives were also satisfied by Mamabolo’s explanation on the use and dangers of money lenders at the pay point.
The last petition on the day was the concerned community of Botlokwa on a stinking sewage around the new mall in their area. A relevant respondent, who happened to be the Capricorn District Municipality representative, failed to attend the hearing. The committee asked the community representatives to be patient as they would escalate the matter to a higher level.
