“Working together is winning together,” said the Makhado municipal manager and the local AfriForum chairperson when they decided to bury the hatchet and work towards their common destination, the development of the town.

Mr Isaac Mutshinyali (MM) and Mr Wally Schultz had dinner together on Monday and decided to let bygones be bygones, referring to a situation about a year ago when former technical director Mr Thivo Ralulimi aggravated Schultz, who then called him by a derogatory name in the presence of the MM.

“That is history. We are now concentrating on a much bigger thing, the development of our town,” said Mutshinyali.

“AfriForum and the Makhado Municipality will engage at every level and win together.  We may work by taking different routes, but we will arrive at the same destiny,” Schultz said.

Mutshinyali said that working for this town was the greatest blessing that God had given him. At 05:30 in the mornings, he is driving around town to see things for himself. Though the sewage system is officially the responsibility of the Vhembe district municipality, Mutshinyali said that he would not sit back and fold his arms “while a child stands inside a sewage dam inside his house”, referring to the overflowing of sewage on the corner of Kleynhans and Pretorius Street. He said that an outside contractor would be involved if the root of the problem was not sorted out this week.

Mutshinyali also made the important announcement that his legal team is currently scrutinizing an agreement which will be signed between the Makhado and Vhembe municipalities. The agreement will eventually allow Makhado to use funds for certain services, which will then be refunded by Vhembe. 

Schultz proposed that they work together to set an example of getting specific jobs done at cost and below, omitting the “tenderpreneurs”. He also referred to negative people who don’t want to give credit where credit is due. “We will defeat them with results,” Schultz said.

Mutshinyali referred to a municipal project to secure storm water drains against the damage done by trucks by erecting yellow pipes on either side. “We can’t just always cry [complain] about things. We have to think out of the box. We all aim to build the town. We really have a future,” Mutshinyali said.