'We will not rest until MM is out of the door'

Roughly 50 young people from the South African Youth Council (SAYC) and the ANC Youth League in Thulamela marched to the offices of Thulamela Municipality in Thohoyandou on Tuesday, 10 August, demanding the immediate removal of the municipal manager (MM), Hlengani Maluleke.

“If the Thulamela Municipality is going to give Maluleke only a written warning, we will demand the reinstatement of all mayors, municipal managers and chief financial managers in municipalities affected by the VBS saga. We have been reliably informed that the municipality didn’t want to remove Maluleke. We will mobilize church leaders, communities and some political activists involved in fighting corruption and maladministration,” said Gwede Mulovhedzi, the ANC Youth League coordinator in the Thulamela sub-region.

Mulovhedzi threatened that they will make the Thulamela Municipality ungovernable and continue with serious strikes because, he said, they (the youth league) could not defend the corruption that existed within the Thulamela Municipality.

“As we have started to show our anger and seriousness about the removal of the MM by organising a picketing, we will not rest until he is shown out the door. We don’t have any trust in him, as he doesn’t protect the laws affecting the financial management of the municipality,” added Mulovhedzi.

Rolani Masindi, a community leader in Thulamela and one of the people who joined the protest action at Thulamela Municipality, said that as residents of the municipality, they had made the decision to serve the municipality with a memorandum, demanding better services as well as the removal of the MM. According to Masindi, the Thulamela Municipality is not rendering quality services, as promised to its people, anymore.

Masindi handed the memorandum over and said the municipality had seven working days to respond to their demands, including job opportunities for young people, the implementation of Treasury’s report, the removal of the Thulamela municipal manager, and that all vacancies at the municipality be advertised and filled as soon as possible.

Cllr Tshimangadzo Malada, who received and signed the memorandum on behalf of the mayor, Humbulani Mulovhedzi, said that he would forward the memorandum to the mayor and hoped that she would respond soon.

In July this year, former Thulamela Mayor Avhashoni Tshifhango was axed, following an instruction from the provincial executive committee (PEC) of the ANC in Limpopo. This was in line with the forensic report on the VBS matter that recommended action against all politicians and officials involved in the scandal.

Date:13 August 2021

By: Silas Nduvheni

Read: 997