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One of the houses which residents claim was built at the sports ground, which they say was done without consulting them.

Community of Muledzi wants a new traditional leader

 

The community of Muledzhi outside Thohoyandou, one of the most impoverished communities in the Thulamela municipality, is angry.

In the centre of their anger is the local chief, Khangale Phaswana, whom they accuse of bad governance.

Recently, angry community members marched to the chief’s dwelling and destroyed a house belonging to him. According to reports, the villagers claim that the house was built with their money.

A visit by this paper to the area found residents busy gathering bricks, which they have shared among themselves. The residents have also taken away a communal tent that was kept at the chief’s house. “We have the right to take what rightfully belongs to us. We contributed money towards the building. We no longer have a chief here and are taking back our belongings," community members said.

When we asked about the state of affairs in the village, community leader Peter Mathobo said the village had experienced the worst leadership since Phaswana took over as chief in the area. “We lack all the basic services in this area, because of the leadership here. We do not even have a road, because the chief and the ward representative connive with each other to make us suffer," he said.

He added that her leadership style was "that of greed, where poor community members are made to pay fines for anything. She lacks respect for the community and she is very greedy."

Mathobo added that another of the worrying factors in the village was the sale of sites in the area. “We no longer have playing grounds for our youth. All the available spaces have been sold, and even the sports ground is about to be sold; our kids will no longer have a place to play,” he added.

He said they would approach the higher traditional authority at Tshivhase to intervene as they no longer want to be ruled by Phaswana. "We have decided that we no longer regard her as our chief and the Tshivhase royal family will have to put someone else here because, as far as we are concerned, we no longer have a chief here,” he said.

When asked to comment, Chief Phaswana refered all queries to the head of the Tshivhase clan, Thovhele Midiyavhathu Tshivhase. "I have been installed here by Tshivhase to look after his people and I cannot comment much as I have not notified him about the problems here. Please phone him, as he is the right person to speak to," she said.

Attempts to draw comment from Thovhele Tshivhase drew a blank. His voicemail could not take any more messages as the mailbx is full.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Const Avhafarei Tshiovhe confirmed that there had been arrests in connection with the incident. "We arrested people for public violence and malicious damage to property. Investigations are continuing," she said.

News - Date: 16 October 2014

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The flattened house that belonged to Chief Khangale Phaswana that was destroyed by the residents.

The heap of bricks ready to be taken away by the residents who claim their money was used to build it.

 

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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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