Chaos erupted when residents of three villages within Ward 24 of the Makhado Municipality accused their ward councillor, Mr Muhali Makwala, of selling jobs and hiring his own people without involving the local community.
Residents of Madabani, Madodonga and Muduluni claim that Makwala hired members of the ward committee, who are already being paid by the municipality, to work on the renovation of the Vhuilafuri Stadium, situated between Madabani and Madodonga. The project started in October and is expected to be finished by September 2023.
The furious residents went to the stadium in protest on 10 November to stop the people who were hired by Makwala from working.
One of the community members, Mr Agreement Rasetjie, demanded that the councillor remove the people he had allegedly hired via dishonest procedures. "We have a list of all the people who were employed by the councillor. All we want is that those who were employed in a corrupt way be replaced by people who are legitimately chosen, following the people's will," he said.
He said the people had passed a vote of no confidence in the councillor as he showed no respect for those who had elected him. "We are all going to march to the Makhado Municipality's offices for his removal, come the end of November. We will show him who is boss." Rasetjie said that Makwala had also rented out his own bakkie to the subcontractor who was working at the project.
Another community member, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of being victimised, added: "We are tired of this rude man who does not have respect for the communities. We have issues to discuss with him, but every time we requested to meet with him, he would give excuses or threaten us. We are left with no option but to call for his removal. The Makhado Mayor, Cllr Samuel Munyai, must come and repeat what he said about employing locals for every project that comes here, because we are being bullied by the councillor."
When contacted, Cllr Makwala, denied that ward committee members had been hired for the project. He also said he knew nothing about his bakkie's being made available for the project. He said that the recommendations as to who should be hired were made by the local traditional council.
This paper sent a media enquiry to Makhado Municipality's spokesperson, Mr Louis Bobodi, last Thursday (10 November), but at the time of our going to press, Bobodi was still waiting for the municipal manager to respond and provide details around the project.