Community members of Madombidzha village took to the streets last Tuesday, protesting against a councillor whom they accuse of manipulating community projects.

The protesters seemed to be especially upset about the choice of people who were employed to assist with the construction of the new road leading from Madombidzha to the nearby air force base. Members of Ward 22 complained that they were not being considered for employment in such projects. They pointed fingers at the local councillor, Jeanet Matumba of ward 23, which covers Madombidzha zone 1, Tshikhwani and Magau. According to one of the community members, Mr Victor Ratshibaya, they are not against Matumba, but wanted the right procedure to be followed in terms of employing community members at the project.

“Community members are not consulted prior to people’s being employed when there is a community project in the area and Matumba is the one who is manipulating these projects. What we want as community members of ward 22 is for our people to be considered for jobs at the road construction,” he said. Ratshibaya said councillors were welcome to monitor the projects, but as community members of Madombidzha, they were saying that when it came to employing people, the councillor should not appoint her own people.

Meanwhile, the tribal authorities are also saying that they were not consulted when the construction company arrived in the area. According to the headman of Tshikhwani village, Vhamusanda Vho-Johannes Ramabulana, Matumba was not co-operating with his tribal office. He said he was very surprised when he saw the construction machines arriving without his being consulted.

Ramabulana questioned the practice where politicians have a say in terms of who gets hired and who not. According to him, there is an agreement that local people will be screened for jobs at the tribal office where everybody is present. “We do not approve of corruption and we want the right and straight channels to be followed in this regard,” outlined Ramabulana.

On Wednesday, when Mirror contacted Matumba for comment, she said there was no truth to the allegations levelled against her by some community members. “I work closely with the traditional leaders and the people are all employed at the tribal office,” she said. She also dismissed allegations that she was taking bribes from community members.

When contacted for comment, the mayor of Makhado Municipality, Cllr Mavhungu Luruli, said that the community members should write a report to her office if they experience any problems in their communities. She added that her office would investigate the allegation levelled against councillor Matumba. “We always have a very strong relationship with the royal authorities. I think there must have been some misunderstanding between the councillor and the chief. We believe that, at the end of the day, everything will be sorted out,” she said.