The executive mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM), Cllr Dowelani Nenguda, said the collective leadership in the district was committed to delivering better services, clean governance, and transparent leadership.
Nenguda, who was speaking on Friday during the State of the District Address, which was aired on Phalaphala FM, Munghana-Lonene and some community radio stations operating around the district, said that, because of the spread of the coronavirus, holding such an event, which is normally marked by a prestigious occasion, a red carpet and preceding consultations, was impossible.
He tabled the more than R2 billion VDM budget for 2020/21 and the integrated development plan (IDP) for five years. He said the collective leadership of the district municipality was committed to ensuring that they were able to realise the objectives for the communities that had elected them into office. "This is what we commit ourselves as the district to achieve as the people's leadership, together with the communities as the citizens," he said.
"We are renovating and revamping the Xigalo Fire Station near Malamulele after it was vandalized by criminals, and we are planning to open it as soon as possible. We are also refurbishing Obed Mashaba Fire Station in Musina, and we have constantly responded to all disasters that happened in our district. We have also procured a fire-response trucks and three disaster-response vehicles," said Nenguda.
He added that they had set aside more than R6 million rand to ignite local economic development and for entrepreneurs to liaise with the local economic development (LED) department for assistance. "In the same vein, we will be finalizing our memorandum of understanding with the University of Venda with the aim of creating a cordial working relationship with the institution to tap into their skills for the purpose of local economic development," he added.
Nenguda added that, through Vuk'uphile, they had trained and appointed 15 emerging contractors who were currently on site, working on sanitation projects. He said the trained contractors were young people; eight of them were women and two were disabled. A total of 1 000 VIP toilet units have been allocated to beneficiaries throughout the district.