“What about our RDP toilets, councillor?”

Two disabled residents from Madombidzha are up in arms against the Makhado municipality's Ward 23 councillor, Selinah Mamatsiari, who they claim overlooked them when allocating RDP toilets.

“We have been on the waiting list since 2007 and she has snubbed us,” said Jackson Mavhandu and Edward Mulogo. Mavhandu said that he had registered for an RDP toilet all along and was shocked and surprised after hearing that their toilets had been given to other community members at the same village.

He accused the councillor of snubbing eligible people like him. “I know of many disabled people in the area who have been denied (RDP toilets) while friends and relatives benefited,” he said.

Jackson Mavhandu said that they had a record of people who had been allocated houses “just because they are close to the ward councillor”. He says he was shocked that people came to them at night and canvassed for their votes and "promised us a better life, while they have done absolutely nothing to ease our suffering." Mavhandu said that he was tired of empty promises made by the municipality and the councillor and expect them to come up with some good news.

Mulogo, who is also disabled, expressed his anger towards the current ruling party, saying that they had promised him an RDP toilet, but they still hadn't delivered on their promise.

“What gets to me the most is the fact that our former and current local councillor know about our situation, but they have not done anything about it," said Mulogo. He said he thought he was being discriminated against because of his disability.

The ward councillor, Selinah Mamatsiari, said that some of the needy people had not yet received RDP toilets and houses because of a lack of knowledge of how the system works. "We had many people from the same village who qualified to get a house and RDP toilets; we added them to our beneficiary priority list," she explained.

"As we are working for the people, we are trying to make sure everybody gets a better house and RDP toilets. That's why we are busy building 100 RDP toilets at Tshikwani," said Mamatsiari. She denied allegations that she did not get involved. She said that she had followed all the necessary procedures.

Cllr Mamatsiari said that she didn’t know about the two residents' needing toilets. She claims that even the ward committee members had not informed her about the two disabled men. Mamatsiari said she would pursue the matter and visit the Mavhandu and Mulogo families.

Date:12 September 2014

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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