Residents threaten to unseat the ANC-led VDM

Despite persistent denials by the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) that the more than R300 million invested with the now-defunct VBS bank will not affect service delivery, the opposite is fast becoming evident.

A large number of villages in the district have been without water for a long time and the residents are becoming more and more frustrated with the empty promises made by the VDM.

The Duthuni Tshiawelo community outside Thohoyandou is one such group that has been severely affected by the lack of service delivery. Residents have been going without water even though they are a stone’s throw away from the Vondo dam and the Phiphidi purification plant.  

Late last year, the same community protested by blocking the road between Sibasa and Nzhelele at Mapitas with burning tyres and other rubble, forcing traffic to use alternative, far-away roads.

Their water supply was restored for a few days and then cut off again. They have been without water since then. What they have are promises for clean water.

Last Friday (22^nd) the angry and impatient community took to the streets again and gave the police a tough time after closing the same road at Mapitas. The police had to use teargas to disperse the angry community that had barricaded the road.

Local SANCO secretary Ms Tendani Joy Mudau said that they had done everything possible and had engaged the municipality on many occasions about the issue of water, but with no positive results.

“We are tired of this government which does not keep its promises and does not care about its people. We cannot do without water and there is a deliberate move to starve us of water and we have proof of that. We are now giving this municipality a few days to sort out this issue and if they fail to supply us with water, we will punish them by withdrawing our votes as we are the ones who put them into power. Besides that, we have plan B, which will hit them hard,” she said.

Mudau said they had decided not to go to the streets again as it had proved ineffective.

VDM spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai said as soon as they had heard about the plight of the people of Duthuni they had activated their technicians who were busy on site trying to restore the water supply. He could not, however, give a time frame for the restoration of services.

Date:30 March 2019

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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