Members of the Sinthumule-Kutama community, outside Makhado, are accusing the Limpopo legislature of making false promises in an attempt to win their votes just before the local government elections.

Mr Patrick Ramahuma, secretary of the Sinthumule Kutama Development Forum (SKDF), says the provincial legislature came to the area on February 27, and promised that all the incomplete RDP houses would be completed before the end of March. The delegation, led by Mathews Malebane, chairperson of public participation on petitions, also promised that water tanks will be supplied in the area as a temporary solution to the lack of water in the area.

The visit came after a petition submitted to the Premier’s office by the community last year in August.

The community was concerned about incomplete RDP houses, lack of water, roads and electricity in the area. However, two months down the line, there has been no development regarding the RDP houses and no water tank has been supplied in the area.

Ramahuma says: “We have written letters to the legislature inquiring about this, but they did not respond to us.” Malebane confirmed that there is a serious backlog of RDP houses in the area. “There are some few that are complete. But at Ha-Revele, they collapsed before they were occupied. At Ha-Ramahantsha, there is no roofing while at Ha-Makhitha and Midoroni they are still in the slab phase since the 2003 financial year.”

Malebane says: “We are engaging all the relevant departments to make sure that all the promises are fulfilled. We are also engaging the Department of Water and Forestry to make sure that they supply water tanks in the area as they promised. As a long-term solution, a dam is going be built in the area,” says Malebane.

On the issue of upgrading of roads, Malebane says there was confusion about who was supposed to carry the responsibility between the Limpopo Road Agency and the Makhado municipality. “But now it has been established that the municipality must take the responsibility and work will start soon.”