Mtititi residents expressed their concern over service delivery in their area during the mayoral imbizo that was hosted by the Collins Chabane Local Municipality at Mtititi Altein on Friday, 24 February.

The mayoral imbizo is an ongoing outreach programme to bring local government closer to citizens. The municipality interacts with communities regarding upcoming service-delivery projects in their areas and provide progress reports on the existing ones.

Among some of the villages that attended were Plunge, Muhunguti and Jilongo. Mayor Shadrack Maluleke, accompanied by his political management team (PMT), executive committee, councillors as well as Chief Mtititi, addressed the gathering.

Although Maluleke once again promised that service delivery to these villages would be improved, some of the Mtititi residents remained sceptical. “Every year the mayor promises better service delivery, but we have not really noticed any improvement in our area. For some time now, the residents have been asking the Collins Chabane Municipality to build a pre-school and primary school in the Mtititi area, but it seems we will not get answers any time soon,” said one of the Mtititi residents, who wished to remain anonymous. He also said that the municipality should upgrade roads in their area.

Regarding water and issues concerning schools, the spokesperson for the Collins Chabane Municipality, Mr Raymond Hlungwani, said that water queries should be directed to the Vhembe District Municipality, while school-related matters were the competency of the Limpopo Department of Basic Education. 

“The municipality’s role is to engage all relevant departments on issues that have been raised by the communities. Schools are under the provincial government and water is under district municipalities. It is our duty to listen to all these issues and make sure we escalate them to the relevant departments,” said Hlungwani.