The residents of Tshiozwi village, which falls under the Makhado Municipality, are at loggerheads with the municipality over an uncompleted electrification project.

Tshiozwi should have received electricity in 2009, but this never happened. During a visit of Mirror to the area two weeks ago, it was found that some of the houses have no meter boxes and no wiring cables, but poles have been planted. The people regard themselves as forgotten and feel that the promises made to them have not been honoured.

Ms Thizwilondi Davhana, who is unemployed, blames the problem on the municipality. She says they don't care about the people. "The planted poles are just a decoration in the village (to fool) the passer-by." According Davhana, the promises started four years ago. “They promised to finish the job a long time ago. We are still waiting. We are not even sure whether they will honour their promises this time,” she said.

"We are tired of using candles and primus stoves and we do not want solar systems, but electricity. We do not want to chop down trees anymore," said Davhana. She accused the municipality of wasting taxpayers’ money. "Where is the money allocated for the project?" she asked.

The chairperson of Sanco, Mr Shaft Matumba, confirmed that the people of Tshiozwi are upset about the delay in completing the job. "We, the ordinary people, want to know why there is a delay in electrifying our village, whereas others have electric lights," said Matumba. "Where is the money which was budgeted for the project?" he asked. "Even the ward councillor, David Davhana, did not report back to the community about what is happening with the project”, he said.

The spokesperson for the Makhado Municipality, Louis Bobodi, said that money to complete the project was budgeted for in the next financial year, which will start in July.