"We don't wait for traditional leaders to voice their service-delivery concerns during the mayoral imbozos or municipal public participation programmes. We visit them and engage with them on how we can improve service delivery in their villages."
These are the words of Musina Mayor, Cllr Mihloti Mihlope during her visit to the headman of Domboni La Folovhodwe village, Musanda Vho-Shandukani Malise last Thursday.
Muhlope says although she received constant reports as a political head of Musina Municipality, it was important for her to visit her constituency personally to get first-hand information. "Our relationship with various stakeholders, including traditional leaders, is very good. You will seldom hear about service-delivery protests in Musina because we constantly communicate our successes and challenges with our communities."
During the meeting, issues relating to the shortage of water in the village, unemployment and improvement of the road infrastructure were discussed. "Although we have achieved much in improving the lives of our people in the villages, we acknowledge that there is still more to be done. We are happy that our traditional leaders are giving us full support in terms of service delivery in their villages."
Headman Malise said he was happy to receive the mayor and her entourage. "She is a natural leader who is always available whenever we need her. We thank the municipality for their commitment in improving our lives and we will continue to support them because they are the government that is closest to us."
Malise added that his royal council would give continuous support to Musina Municipality, because there was mutual benefit in doing so. "They consult us whenever there are developments that should come to our villages. We gladly allocate land because we know that their responsibility is to bring services. We are also happy that the mayor has committed to dealing with all the matters raised in the meeting."