Community members repair Wayeni bridge

The community of Wayeni and surrounding areas were left stranded after heavy rains swept the access bridge away last Tuesday (22 March).

The downpour last Tuesday also destroyed key roads in the area, with some becoming virtually impassable. Before the Easter period commenced, a group of community members was found busy reconstructing the bridge and road. Wayeni village is only a few kilometres from Bungeni, the economic hub of Hlanganani. According to residents, they are worse off than far-flung and remote areas in terms of infrastructure and there is an acute shortage of water.

Instead of sitting down and pretending that everything was fine, the community members came up with a turnaround strategy. The village was a hive of activity last weekend, with people from all walks of life coming together to work on their infrastructure.

One of the residents, Mr Bolly Baloyi, said that their initiative did not mean that they were giving up on engaging the government. They just wanted to show the government that even if they did not get anything they had been promised, they were able to do some of the things themselves as a community. “We are giving our government a challenge. We are entitled to what other communities are getting. We should not be sidelined as if we are a foreign village. We will not stop engaging the municipalities and we will keep on raising these issues whenever there are Integrated Development Plan (IDP) meetings, “ he said.

Baloyi said this had been going on for a long time. “Our lives have been a living hell and residents are forced to take a detour to access the main road to and from Wayeni,” said Baloyi.
Chief Wisani Malele, the local traditional leader, said the community had made many representations to the government, asking them to bring essential services to them, but they have not been so lucky. “We have knocked on many doors of the government, but each time we were given empty promises. We have waited for far too long, and we don´t feel like we belong to this government,” he said.

The spokesperson for the Makhado Municipality, Mr Louis Bobodi, said that the municipality had not met with community or received any information about the bad road. He said that the municipality would send officials to go and assess the road and bridge. Bobodi said that after receiving a report from the assessor, they would send the report to the IDP.

News - Date: 01 April 2016

Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

Email: [email protected]