Residents of Maniini Block L outside Thohoyandou are up in arms against the local Thulamela Municipality, which they say is not keeping promises they make to residents.
The stand-off between the municipality and residents emanates from recent revelations that that things promised to residents in the IDP will not bear fruit this year. Residents who are fed-up with the municipality's "empty promises" say the area in which they are staying has been proclaimed and they have been paying for services they do not get.
The last straw was recently during an IDP meeting held in Thohoyandou when residents realised that the road that they had been promised that used to be in the municipality's IDP was no longer featured there.
The community held a report-back meeting on Sunday at the local church, where they were briefed about the latest developments.
Local civic leader Mr Lufuno Pedron Ramagoma said the municipality has taken them for a ride and that they have been patient for a long time. "We have been paying for services here with the hope that the municipality would develop our area in return, but this is not happening. We featured in the municipality's IDP, but we were shocked to find recently that we will not be getting any development from the municipality this financial year."
He added that the municipality had not been faithful and further indicated that, in view of the latest developments, they were going to engage all the relevant stakeholders, including the province and the president of the county, for a speedy solution to their problem.
He added that if they found no solution to their problems, they would be left with no option but to look for other options in ensuring that services came to their area.
Among the proposals by the community during the meeting was completely breaking ties with Thulamela Municipality and opening a community trust account where residents would deposit all their monies to use in developing their area. This would effectively mean that they stop paying for municipal services completely.
"We are not fighting anybody, and we work with the local councillor, but very soon we will be on our own. We have waited too long, but nothing is happening. We are a peaceful community and we will not damage the few resources we have in protesting against non-delivery of services."
Mr Nndwamato Tshiila, the spokesperson for the Thulamela Municipality, said the community should not panic and that it was not true that they had been removed from the IDP. "Their road has already been designed, but it will not be implemented this year. They are not the only ones, and they should just be patient as they will get their road," he said.