‘shutdown until locals benefit’ – Malamulele community leaders
Residents of Malamulele Section D and Mavandla embarked on a total shutdown in demand of transparency in the building of new tar road.
LIMPOPO –Â According to community leader, Reckson Sambo, residents accuse the ward councillor, Lazarus Baloyi, of not following proper procedures in hiring the Community Liaison Officer (CLO), engineers, steering committee and general workers.
“As community leaders we want this project to stop. We were never consulted and most people who are employed in this project are not from Section D and Mavandla. We want the project to benefit local people, not people who are hired by the ward councillor and his friends.
“This project won’t go ahead before our demands are met,” he said. “We don’t belong to any ANC faction, we represent the community and we demand the mayor to intervene in this matter.”
The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) Malamulele Chairperson, John Mothombeni, denied residents’ allegations and indicated proper procedures were followed as all posts were advertised and everyone was invited to take part.
This is not the only incident of a shutdown in the Collins Chabane Municipality, as residents of Xithlelani village in Malamulele also recently participated in a total shutdown where they indicated the new tar road worth R28 million, which was completed in December last year, was not properly built as the municipality allegedly rushed the contractor to finish the work.
Residents of Mukhomi and Phaphazela villages in Malamulele also recently took to the streets in total shutdown to demand a tar road which they claimed they were promised five years ago by the then Thulamela Municipality but up until to date it has not been built.
Collins Chabane Municipality Mayor, Joyce Bila, said she will meet with community leaders, the ward councillor and Sanco to see how best to resolve the issues.
