R693m for water and sanitation projects

The executive mayor of Vhembe District Municipality, Cllr Tshitereke Matibe, has indicated he will accept any deployment by his organization, "because I am a loyal member of the ANC."

He made this announcement during a media briefing at the Mavambe tribal council, prior to this last State-of-the-District Address (SODA).

He delivered the SODA during a ceremony at the Worship Tabernacle Christian Church in Mavambe village near Malamulele. He tabled a budget of more that R1.4 billion for the 2016/17 financial year and said that R693 million had been set aside for water and sanitation projects. “We are pleased with the work of the construction of the bulk line water project from Valdezia to Mowkop which started in May 2015 and is expected to be completed in November 2017. The completion of this water project will improve the supply of water in Louis Trichardt and than 40 villages around will benefit a lot as the scarcity of water will be the thing of the past,” he said.

He also said that the Mukomaasinanndu-to-Malavuwe bulk-water-supply project, which had just started, was progressing well. "The project is at 91% and we hope the project will be completed before the end of August this year."

Matibe could not state clearly into which position the ANC might deploy him but confirmed he would no longer be available to serve the community as executive mayor of the Vhembe district. Matibe also urged ward councillors within the Vhembe District Municipality to continue delivering better services to the poor communities they served.

During Matibe's tenure as executive mayor, the municipality has received a disclaimer audit report for three years in succession and in the 2014/15 financial year, the district was regarded as one of the worst performing municipalities, with poor financial management and accusations of maladministration. When Premier Mr  Stan Mathabatha delivered his State-of-the-Province address in February this year, he mentioned Vhembe District as one of the underperforming municipalities in the province.

Date:30 June 2016

By: Silas Nduvheni

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