The MEC for Local Government and Housing, Mr Soviet Lekganyane, promised better service delivery to the poverty-stricken and disadvantaged residents of Mpheni Ha-Makhakhi village in the Waterval area outside Louis Trichardt. This was during his visit to the area on Sunday, June 14.

This comes after the residents had been complaining about poor service delivery to their area for the past 15 years. It was during this visit that residents asked him what democracy meant when they were still living in appalling conditions without basic services such as water and electricity.

Lekganyane told the residents who came out in numbers to listen to him, that the ANC government was the government of the people and that they had done the right thing not to keep quiet when services which they had been promised were not delivered. He referred to their protest march to the Premier’s office the previous month where he received a memorandum on behalf of the Premier. “After discussions with the premier, we realised that the issues which the people of Ha-Makhakhi were complaining about were challenges facing the Department of Local Government and Housing. So, I am here today to make a commitment that we are going to give you elec-tricity,” he said.

He acknowledged that the people of Makhakhi had gone out in numbers during the previous elections and voted for the ANC, even though they did not have electricity, water and employment, because they trusted that the ANC would give them what they wanted. “So, I am saying before you today that all the services that you com-plained about are going to be provided,” Lekganyane promised.

According to a report, the Department of Local Government and Housing has recently electrified 1569 households in the Giyani municipality at a cost of R13 Million.

Community members, however, said that they were going to cut and destroy the feeder line that crosses between their households going to the nearby farms, simply because they do not have electricity.

Water is also a challenge in the area as the people are still forced to collect water from the rivers. One of the residents who spoke to Mirror, Mr Joseph Ndou, said that as villagers they felt very isolated. “If you can look here, most of the villagers stay in shacks. There are no houses, clinic or a high school. Our children have to travel long distances to school every day,” he said. “We are really suffering; we drink dirty water that we share with animals. We hope that the MEC will do something about this.”

With regard to water, Lekganyane said in an interview with Mirror that the Nandoni bulk water supply project was going to address the challenges of water in Vhembe and some parts of the Capricorn District municipality, such as Matoks, Makgato, Ha-Phasha and the surrounding villages. “We are just awaiting the finalisation of the pipeline connection, as the construction of the purification plant is already completed. Hopefully then the challenge of water will soon be a thing of the past,” he said.