The long-awaited upgrade of the D3675 road that connects Muswodi through Folovhodwe, Tanda and Tshikhudini was at the top of the agenda during the mayoral public participation programme at Tanda village, outside Musina, last Thursday (22 June).
The local people have been complaining for years, pleading that this busy road be upgraded from gravel to tar.
Musina Mayor Nkhanedzeni Godfrey Mawela told the villagers during the meeting that Musina Municipality was in continuous engagements with the Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure to make sure that the process was accelerated. "Although it is not our competency to upgrade that public road, we have a role to play by engaging those responsible, so that the people's plight should be heard and met. We have no doubt that our engagements will yield positive results because the upgrade of that road is overdue."
Mawela said they had also partnered with Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) for major street resurfacing and patching up potholes around the municipality. He said he was glad that the local people had not ignored the call to come and engage directly with their elected representatives on issues regarding service delivery. "Although it is a weekday, people decided to put everything aside to come and attend this gathering. This clearly demonstrates that people have the will to help their government to succeed in delivering efficient services. It is important to get first-hand information from all of you who are on the ground, instead of us waiting for the reports in our offices," he said.
During the event, villagers also raised concerns around inconsistent water supply, shortage of low-cost houses, crime, and unemployment. Mawela said that all the issues that were the responsibility of the municipality would be given urgent attention, while those that were not their responsibility would be referred to the relevant stakeholders. He promised that follow-ups would be made.
During the meeting, various government departments and stakeholders delivered mobile services to the villagers.