Takalani Mudau is an unemployed mother of two who lives in Musina Nancefield. Her husband passed away in 2010 and since then, she has been struggling to make the ends meet. She survives on her children’s government support grants and at times she does odd jobs like washing people’s clothes and selling firewood.

Despite all these hardships, Mudau is one of the thousand smiling faces of the people of Musina because she is a proud beneficiary of the local municipality’s indigent policy. She receives free water, electricity, refuse removal and sewerage services every month.

She said with a smile: “After hearing from the local radio station that the municipality is again registering people for free services, I had to make sure that I had all the documents at hand. These services have helped me to enjoy life like any other people, despite the fact that I am poor. I really commend the municipality because they are aware that there are people who suffer out there.”

Each beneficiary of the municipality’s indigent policy receives six kilolitres of water, 55 kilowatts of electricity and 100% free sewerage and refuse removal services every month.

According to the communications manager of Musina Municipality, Mr Wilson Dzebu, the process of registering indigents for the new financial year, which starts on 1 July, will run for the entire months of May and June. He says indigents are people whose joint family monthly income is R2 520 or less. “We subsidise these people with free service on a monthly basis because we regard them as not financially viable and they need assistance to be able to enjoy life.”

Dzebu says the municipality has assembled a team of experts who will go from house to house collecting data. “We don’t want our people to suffer by forming long queues at the municipal offices – hence, they will be serviced in the comfort of their homes.”

He says there are documents that people should keep handy in order to be registered successfully for the free services.  “These include an ID copy of the applicant and spouse, if married, copies of dependants' birth certificates, recent municipal account, electricity slip with meter number, proof of income in the form of payslip or bank statement and a sworn affidavit if the applicant is unemployed.”

Dzebu says during the current financial year, the municipality has been providing 2 824 indigents with free services.