Nancefield residents unimpressed by imbizo

Musina residents expressed their deep disappointment in what they believe to have been an opportunity wasted by various local heads of government departments to engage with the community during the mayoral imbizo, held at the new Nancefield Community Hall on Friday, 25 March.

The more than 200 residents who gathered at the hall expected to see Musina SAPS’s station commander, the local head of the South African National Defence Force, the departments of labour and employment, home affairs, health, and others, who had apparently failed to avail themselves for the imbizo.

Musina residents said they had been experiencing water challenges for the past 10 years now and demanded an explanation from the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM). While Mr Miyelani Gladstone Chauke from the VDM tried to explain these water issues, residents chanted “We want water authority as a municipality!” Chauke advised the residents to vote for the municipality to have their own water authority. 

Some of the local heads of government who did show up were booed as they tried to introduce themselves, with residents shouting that they wanted these heads to account for the issues the community had been living with all these years. 

“We as a community were disappointed that we did not see some of the departments we had expected to engage with,” said Peter Jack, chairperson of community structure Musina To The Front. “This was not an imbizo as no-one answered any questions from the residents.” 

Patience Mbewe, who has her own brick-moulding business, was concerned about the lack of information flow from the Musina Municipality to the residents. “In order for our business to grow, the municipality should be open enough to tell us the reasons for delayed projects that could benefit the residents,” she said.

Mbewe claims that she has been waiting for more than three years for land to run her brick-moulding business from, but no-one informs the residents about availability of land that was promised four years ago. Mbewe runs her business from the back of her house at the moment. 

Sewani Kaunda raised several issues. “We want to know why the municipality blocks residents who apply for indigent cover in Musina. The blocked residents are from very poor backgrounds.”  He also wanted to know why the municipality no longer fumigated mosquito-infested areas when malaria was still a problem in Musina.

Kaunda further asked why the VDM – as the water authority - failed to pay for the electricity used for pumping Musina’s water, leaving the municipality to settle this electricity bill. “This is a challenge to our Musina Municipality, as paying for pumping water eats much into its budget,” he claimed. 

Cllr Vivian Milanzi told Limpopo Mirror that the Musina Municipality had noted all grievances raised by the residents and would call a report-back meeting in a month’s time.

News - Date: 31 March 2022

Bernard Chiguvare

Bernard Chiguvare is a Zimbabwean-born journalist. He writes mainly for the online publication, Groundup.

Email: [email protected]