MVELAPHANDA – Although the Mvelaphanda Water Project is less than three months old, it is already marked by a lot of controversy.

According to one of the members of the newly formed interim committee, Mr Nthambeleni Nemakhavhani, everything was going according to plan until the local ward councilor, Mr Mmbudzeni Mulandana, dissolved the steering committee that was established in order to ensure that the project is managed smoothly.

Nemakhavhani stated that the initial agreement with the councilor was that only the residents of Mvelaphanda village would benefit from the project. Thirty people from the Mvelaphanda area were, according to Nemakhavhani, employed at the beginning of the project. Things turned ugly when the contractor told the councilor that he was intending to employ an additional group of ten people. Instead of considering the residents of Mvelaphanda village, as per the alleged agreement, Mulandana decided to appoint residents of the Madala and Mahematshena areas.

Nemakhavhani said that when they called Mulandana to a meeting, the only thing he stressed was that they steering committee was out of order, saying it was working towards the division of the Lwamondo community. That resulted in Mulandana’s dissolving the steering committee.

“I have noted with dismay that your committee is operating towards the division of the Lwamondo Community. I have advised you many times to refrain from such practices, but to no avail. In the interest of the Mvelaphanda Water Supply Project and the community, I have no other option but to dissolve your committee with effect from today the 20th October 2005,” reads an extract from the letter that the councilor wrote to the defunct steering committee.

The concerned Mvelaphanda residents decided to form an interim committee after the disbanding of the steering committee. Nemakhavhani further alleged that the contractor had told them that he was no longer going to continue with the project, on the basis that the money that had been allocated to it had been reduced from R4,5 million to R2,5 million.

The contractor could not be reached at the time of going to press to confirm this. The ward councilor, Mr Mulandana, dismissed it as baseless and unfounded rumour. According to him, the project was allocated an amount of R4,5 million and there was still enough funds remaining to complete the whole project as planned. He defined the members of the interim committee as selfish individuals who cared less about the well-being of the Lwamondo community.