The MEC for Local Government and Housing in Limpopo, Mr Soviet Lekganyane, says corrupt councillors will not be tolerated and they should leave the system now.

Lekganyane was addressing community members during a public participation event at Mulodi village in the Mutale Local Municipality last Thursday.

He said community members must not elect corrupt people to be come their councillors and that harsh measures would be taken against corrupt councilors.

During the event, community members raised their concerns with regard to the allocation of RDP houses. They said young people were benefiting from RDP houses, while elderly people who qualified for the houses were being ignored. This comes after members of the community lodged a complain to the MEC´s office about officials who were selling RDP houses in the area. Residents added that RDP houses were left incomplete while they did not have houses. They further complained about the lack of water supply and electricity.

Lekganyane said that people should not only wait for public participation programmes to raise their concerns. "Community meetings must be called and people should be informed about the criteria on who qualified to get houses. We need community members who are at the forefront of programmes. Community development workers are responsible for the identification and registration of people who qualify to get houses," he said.

He said that government has made a commitment to deliver services to the people. He added that the communities should participate in IDP programmes, so that they knew about the budget allocated to projects and the difficulty faced by government in implementing certain projects.

Lekganyane said allocation of RDP houses would be increased in 2011. "Service delivery backlogs such as housing, water and electricity will also be addressed," he said. One of the resident, Mrs Muofhe Mawela from the nearby Tshikambe village, indicated that her house had collapsed in 2002 but RDP houses were allocated to people who did not deserve them.