Residents of Dzanani came out in large numbers to protest against poor service delivery by the Makhado Municipality to their township last Wednesday, but before they could march past Absa bank, the protesters were immediately stopped by the Makhado police.

The demonstrators, who came to town with two buses and other with private transport, were led by the representatives of their civic structure. Mr Ntshengedzeni Samuel Thangavhuelelo, chairperson of the Civic Association, who also participated in the energetic action for quality service delivery, criticised the municipality for strategically changing the route of their march a few moments before they began with their demonstrations. “In our application for our march, we indicated that we would start demonstrating in Kruger Street, next to the taxi rank, but we were shocked when the police arrived and informed us that we must go and begin marching at the Lapa in Rissik Street,” he said.

The police stopped the protesters after they crossed Burger Street along Songozwi Street. As the police put up a barricade, a heated argument between the police and demonstrators led to the arrest of a young female protester, who was released before the protest ended. The protesters returned to Kruger Street, chanting, holding posters and shouting “Bari i do fara mme ayo, (a moron will arrest his or her mother), “Away with Makhado Municipality.” Some of the posters carried by the demonstrators read as follows: Is this worth tax payers’ money? Potholes, humps, patches, new road, patch patch patch, new road, Dzanani location deserves better road, not his rubbish, Hamba municipality, whow bee tar, Basic needs, water and electricity, We need proper service and U kundeledziwa ho fhela nga 1993, havho president Mbeki ndi tsini.

On arrival next to the taxi rank, the organisers of the march requested the demonstrators to get back to the buses and return to their township. They returned without handing over their memorandum containing their grievences to the mayor of Makhado. According to Thangavhuelelo, they are demanding quality work during the tarring of streets and that tenders must be given to people with expertise and knowledge. “We are not getting water at Dzanani because of the illegal connection by the municipal employees to the main supply water pipe. There are people in our township who have been without electricity for the past ten years,” he said.

Thangavhuelelo said that there must be resurfacing of the parking lot at the shopping complex of Dzanani. “We are also demanding street lights around the township. We are also demanding an emergency services centre. We demand more boreholes. We also want our own pipeline from the Mutshedzi Dam as well as the fencing of our reservoir,” he said.

“We are no longer going to attempt addressing our grievances with the Makhado Municipality. We are going to take our demands to the provincial government. We need SCOPA to investigate the awarding of tenders at Makhado Municipality. We are saying this because someone who used to work at the municipality was awarded a tender to tar our streets, but did a shabby job and nobody is prepared to talk about that at the municipality,” he said.

The Director: Community Services at the Makhado Municipality, Mr Peter Ntsieni Magwala, confirmed that the march was legal as it was approved by the council on the condition that the march would start at the lapa in Rissik Street. “The organisers of the protest march refused to accept our route during our meeting on September 13. It is our constitutional obligation as the municipality to render services to our people, but we want to encourage residents to engage us on matters relating to service delivery through the ward councillors,” he said.

Irrespective of the march, Magwala said that the municipality will continue accelerating service delivery in all areas within their area of jurisdiction, including Dzanani.