Small municipality takes everyone by surprise

Mutale Municipality came first out of the 32 municipalities (26 local and 6 district) in the Limpopo Province. Of the 2 178 voting stations in the province, 1 700 of them were schools.

Out of the 22 seats contested during the local government elections at Mutale Municipality, 20 went to the ANC, 1 to the DA and the remaining 1 to Azapo.

Mutale Municipality, situated in the far northern part of the Limpopo, is predominately rural but it has succeeded in delivering basic services like housing, sanitation and job creation to its poor inhabitants.

The little municipality has 39 339 registered voters in 58 voting stations. Mutale Municipality obtained the highest voter turnout in Limpopo with 53, 53%. The second highest voter turnout went to Maruleng Municipality (51,18%) whereas the third position went to Greater Letaba Municipality (48,77%).

Limpopo’s IEC Provincial Electoral Officer, Rev Zwo Nevhutalu, congratulated Mutale Municipality for showing Limpopo Province what democracy is all about. Nevhutalu passed his gratitude to traditional leaders, councillors, the Mutale Youth League, political parties, the department of education, the SAPS, IEC workers and all the stakeholders who made the elections more peaceful in the Mutale Municipality.

“No single incident of political intolerance was reported during the elections. This shows that people of Mutale have matured democratically because our country has chosen a democratic way of doing things. The provincial office of the IEC is proud of this achievement and I hope it will encourage other municipalities to follow suit in future. Being in a predominantly rural area does not mean that you cannot be successful. You have done better than those in urban municipalities whose inhabitants found it easy to go to the voting stations. Some of you travelled long distances and went through dongas and mountains to cast your votes. The fruits of your hard labour have since paid off during this award ceremony…”

Mutale Municipal Electoral Officer, Thiathu Netshanzhe, attributes the success of the municipality in the elections to political tolerance and cooperation between different stakeholders. He thanked the voters for their efforts and encouraged them to go in numbers during the next elections, so that the municipality can obtain 100% turnout in future.

“We feel highly honoured to be presented with the award since we are one of the smallest municipalities in the country. This clearly shows that we have potential for growth and our joint efforts will make us successful, despite limited resources…”

News - Date: 17 March 2006

Wilson Dzebu

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