The residents of Straighthardt and the surrounding Divhani, Doli Doli, Ngundu, Maranikwe, Musekwa, Posaito, Sane and Mudimeli say they are tired about the Vhembe District Municipality´s empty service delivery promises.

This was during the Vhembe District Municipality´s outreach imbizo programme that was held at the Straighthardt sports grounds last Friday.

The residents say every time elections come around, the municipality promises them good things like tarred roads, schools, running water and other basic services which they do not have, but as soon as the councillors have been voted into power, they tend to forget about them.

"Our children still travel a long distance to near by villages as there is no high school in our village. Our children are being raped on their way to school because they travel a long distance to and from school every day, which is very risky. We have begged for at least a high school to be built in the village, but government continues to ignore us," says Ester Matapa, a resident of Makushu village.

She added that government neglected the area but during elections they begged for their votes. "We are tired of empty promises. Most of the households depend on farming for a living, but there is no water. Only those with donkey carts are able to get water from the nearby villages," she said.

According to Mr Ephraim Mudau, a resident of the nearby Khomele village, since their houses were blown away by a storm some months ago, the Makhado Municipality never visited the area or assisted them with anything. "When our houses were blown away by the storm, we thought the municipality would assist us, but this did not happen," he said.

The government’s imbizo program was initiated as a formal campaign in 1999 in order to take the government programmes to the people. This initiative enables authorities in municipalities and government departments to view progress pertaining to delivery of basic services to the people and the impact that government programmes are having on the lives of the people.

A shortage of class rooms at primary and secondary schools in the area is one of the challenges facing the residents of Straighthart and the surrounding villages. Since Tshianane secondary school was blown away by the storm, it was never repaired and children were forced to attend classes in buildingswithout roofs. Incomplete RDP houses are a challenge residents complained about to the executive mayor of Vhembe District Municipality, Cllr Falaza Mdaka, who was accompanied by the mayor of Makhado Municipality, Cllr Mavhungu Luruli.

Residents say their area is not even accessible because of the poor condition of the roads. However, Mdaka still promised that all the challenges which the residents are complaining about would be addressed. "After only 16 years in government, the ANC led government has already addressed so many challenges in the communities," he said.

With regard to the issue of water, Mdaka said they had already drilled 21 boreholes in the area, which would soon be equiped with the required machinery. "Shortage of water in this area will soon be a thing of the past. We are busy working on the matter. As soon as we finish fitting the machines, these problems will be over," he promised.

He also promised that his municipality was working on addressing the issue of the condition of the roads.