Municipalities must take note of the needs of people, says Makhado Business Forum

The chairperson of the Makhado Business Forum, Mr Dickson Khosa, said that the forum would not rest until the Makhado Municipality listened to the people and did what the people want.

On Monday, Khosa was repeating the statement which he had delivered during the Sanco Waterval branch’s service delivery march on 17 April. He said that the municipality was being led by people who did not have the best interests of the people at heart. “We still have many outstanding issues and concerns with the Makhado Municipality, and it is only sad that we are not receiving any answers from the municipality,” he said.

The business forum had submitted a request for a reduction of the annual fee for the hawkers who are operating spaza shops, fruit markets, and all vendors in town. According to Khoza, they have not received any response from the municipality. “What the municipality does is to send us from one office to another – and, honestly speaking, we are getting tired of the blankness they continue to give us,” he said.

Khosa said that the forum had also submitted a request for business to be localised; preferably for local entrepreneurs as this helps boost local economic development. “As Makhado Business Forum, we demand that 85% of the major contracts, be it in construction or supplying stationery, be given to local entrepreneurs,” he said.

The business forum also asked that if there were by-laws or legislation that needed to be reviewed, the municipality must engage the relevant stakeholders for fair and open participation. “They must not just change by-laws by themselves within the walls of and behind the closed doors of their offices,” he said. “Such acts invariably create room for conflict between the municipality and the public.”

He further mentioned that if the municipal leadership was unable to work hand in glove with people, it was better for them to resign. “People must not forget their names and think that they are the rightful paramount kings. Mayors are deployed today and are also recalled tomorrow,” he said.

News - Date: 22 May 2015

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.

Email: [email protected]