“Will burning shops and houses solve any problems?”

The mayor of the Thulamela Local Municipality, Cllr Grace Mahosi, lambasted residents who continue to use violence to voice issues of service delivery and those who cause unrest where there are suspected ritual murder cases.

“People seem to have enough strength to pick up sharp, heavy irons and dig trenches across the tarred roads,” she said. “They barricade roads, burn tires and police vehicles. They also chase and assault innocent people.”

She indicated that she failed to understand why and how a person decided to destroy infrastructure simply because of a suspected incident of ritual murder in a village. “Will burning houses, shops and destroying roads solve the problem?” she asked.

Mahosi, who was speaking during the launch of the Nelson Mandela Exhibition at the University of Venda in Thohoyandou, further said a spirit of laziness was prevalent among the people who continued to wreak havoc in the town's streets and villages.

“The problem is that most of these people are adults who also lead children astray,” she said. “They say they won't work on farms, because that kind of work is for the Zimbabweans. The next thing they go and damage the roads and burn schools, and after that they go and stand in the social grant queue. You are not even ashamed to accept a social grant, even after burning down a library!”

She said the South African government and all municipalities had put proper channels for residents to voice their concerns and problems in place, and that people should follow these channels.

“Let's live the legacy of Nelson Mandela – and stop promoting ethnic and cultural division among our people,” she said. “If Nelson Mandela were to come from the dead and see what was happening here in our area in the past few days, he would feel very disappointed and angry.”

Date:20 February 2015

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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