THOHOYANDOU - The Thulamela Civic Forum has once again called upon community members falling under the Thulamela municipality to boycott the paying of service fees owed to the municipality, until the municipality scraps all the outstanding debts.

In a press release the forum, which was formed by the civic associations and organisations within the Thulamela Municipality area, said they had come together for mutual co-operation in addressing the community's problems.

In the statement, which was released by Mr MK Dalana, the general secretary of the forum, it was stated that they are not politically motivated. The forum said it had forwarded a memorandum to the Thulamela Municipality on July 24 last year without receiving a response. "After reported requests for a meeting with the municipality had failed, the residents staged a protest march on August 17, 2001 where a memorandum was submitted to the municipality".

He said the response to the memorandum was unsatisfactory. "When we further requested for a meeting of clarification, they failed to appear. Seeing that there had been no progress, we proceeded to the Vhembe District on September 13, 2001 to discuss our problems with them. On September 20, 2001 the Vhembe District office sent an administration clerk to listen to our grievances. It was then that our delegation decided to appeal to the department of local government for their intervention. The department of local government was contacted and declined further intervention. Our forum then decided to contact the premier's office for this intervention, and we are still waiting for his reaction".

Meanwhile, the manager of Thulamela Municipality, Mr Makonde Mathivha, said it was unfair and irresponsible of the Civic Forum to call for the community to boycott paying for services owed to the municipality, as it would work against the community.

Mathivha said the forum should note that the municipality, which has a mandate to serve the community, has no other source of funds to render the services except the money paid by the community in service levy. Mathivha also indicated that they had challenged the forum on several occasions to come forward with information to supplement their allegations of corruption so that steps could be taken. He said no one was prepared to come forward.