The Mutale Municipality is delivering on its promises. This was spelt out by the mayor of the municipality, Cllr Lucas Manyuha, during his state-of-the-municipality address at the Masisi Town Hall last Friday.

Manyuha addressed traditional leaders, councillors, mayors from other municipalities, members of the business community, political organisations and the community of Mutale and tabled a budget of R71 million, with R49 million being grants and R21, 2million being from own source.

The address is the culmination of the municipality’s extensive five-month interaction and consultation with communities and senior traditional leaders through imbizos and public participation where issues of service delivery, such as water, electricity, housing, access roads, poverty and unemployment, were raised.

Manyuha said the municipality will continue to use the same platform to clarify certain issues and inform people about government programmes. He said the budget estimates were an indication that the municipality was committed to service deliver to the community and also ensure economic growth in the area. "It is our vision that services to all our communities be improved, that every indigent household be provided with free basic services like water and electricity. It also remains our vision that the fight against the spread of HIV/Aids must be won," he added.

The mayor said even though the municipality was still faced with many challenges, he was pleased to announce that much had been done in terms of service delivery in the 2007/08 financial year. "In trying to make the lives of the people change for the better through effective implementation of programmes and policies, the municipality has taken the necessary steps to ensure that the budget gives us the means to achieve that objective," he said.

Achievements:

Manyuha gave an overview of the municipality’s achievements:

* Sanitation - 23 villages in all wards shared 1 500 units of VIP toilets that will give privacy and restore the dignity of the community;

* Electricity - The municipality, in conjunction with the district municipality and Eskom, connected 1 188 units and more villages are still waiting to be energised as per agreement with Eskom. The municipality’s objective is to make sure that all villages receive grid electricity and all indigent households receive free electricity by 2012;

* Roads and bridges - The municipality is located in a rural area and roads are always a problem. The municipality was able to build bridges at Mafukane, Tshikundamalema and Dotha Bridge. A road from Shakadza via the Big Tree to Tshipise by RAL is in the completion stage and will improve the flow of traffic.

* Municipal buildings - the Masisi Hall is nearly completed, new municipal offices are to be completed soon, the K53 test station is completed and the landfill at Makwilidza is complete and just awaiting licencing and the erection of cells;

* Water – The Mutale Regional Water Scheme is to be improved from 4,5 megaliters to 14,5 megaliters a day. The command reservoir is to be increased from 8 megaliters to 13 megaliters. Villages like Dzimauli, Mafukani, Tshikundamalema and Mukondeni will benefit from this scheme. Many villages are presently receiving water from boreholes and stand pipes at RDP level;

* LED - As the growth of the municipality is dependent on agriculture, mining and tourism, much focus has to be put on the LED, and in order to be able to rise to the challenge, an economic researcher is to be appointed by the municipality.

* Revenue collection - He applauded community support in cost-recovery participation. The municipality was able to collect R4,1 million in the 2006/07 financial year and the R9,2 million this year indicates an increase of 75%.

Targets for the current financial year:

* Capital expenditure 2008/09 - R10, 2 million to be spent on capital projects and many projects will be launched to benefit the whole community;

* Electricity - 28 villages will be electrified in partnership with Eskom and the Vhembe District Municipality;

* Water - the 211 employees the municipality received from DWAF through the Vhembe District Municipality will add value in improving the delivery of water services to various villages in the municipality;

* Sanitation - R7 million is set aside for the building of VIP toilets in the villages;

* Roads – the municipality is committed to making all villages and LED centers accessible and many access roads to villages and senior traditional leaders will be refurbished, a taxi rank will be constructed while the tarring of the access road from Tshandama to Thengwe, the gravelling and maintenance of streets in all wards and the upgrading of the Gombani road will also take place;

* Housing - the majority of the municipality’s people are not properly housed and the municipality has made a request to the provincial government to avail more houses and urged all stakeholders to cooperate in making sure that people are properly sheltered. "We have been allocated 1 301 houses for this financial year, 901 are for urban housing, 300 fully subsidized houses in Extension 1 Mutale Town and 100 rural houses allocated to nine wards and to be distributed over nine villages. It is a pity that we won’t be able to implement the 901 houses, due to land related problems," the mayor said.

* LED - as the municipality is plagued by poverty and unemployment, many LED projects will take root in order to address those challenges;

* Sport facilities - the four sports facilities reported last year are almost complete and two more are to take shape at Tshixwadza and Tshilamba in order that all youth are afforded the chance to participate in sport;

* Waste management - the Department of Tourism, Environmental Affairs and Economic Development in the province has expressed satisfaction with the way the municipality is keeping its environment clean and an award of R20 000 and a trophy was recommended at the recent provincial awards;

The mayor concluded by thanking all stakeholders who had made it possible for the municipality to dispense its service the way it did in the previous financial year and urged them to continue supporting all programmes initiated by the municipality. "It is only through a collective and a united front that we will be able to bring a better life to our communities," he said.