The newly elected mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality, Cllr Tshitereke Matibe, has pledged that he will work around the clock in order to address the issue of water shortages in poor communities.

In his acceptance speech after his election during the special council meeting held at the council chamber on Tuesday afternoon, Matibe said that the council must urgently convene a district water summit to specifically check the capacity of the sources, the state of water infrastructure and developing better options of delivering water to communities. Matibe said the council must be “strengthened and capacitated” to ensure that councillors play their oversight role without any fear of favour.

"This house must continuously monitor the implementation of the five key performance areas of our district: municipal transformation and organisational development, basic service delivery, local economic development, municipal financial viability and management and good governance and public participation," he added.

Matibe also invited traditional leaders to partner with the municipality and join hands with the aim of developing "our impoverished rural communities and let us isolate those who do not care about our communities and are always ready to sow divisions amongst ourselves."

He also invited the leadership of the unions to actively participate in the development of the institution. "Without you, our developmental goals will never be realised. The collective leadership will always be ready to listen and engage you," he said.

Matibe is a former mayor of the Mutale municipality and the newly elected chairperson of the ANC in the Vhembe region. He takes over from Ms Florence Radzilani, who is now the MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison.