Youths from Dzimauli village, under the banner of the Dzimauli Youth Movement, have called on the Thulamela Municipality to fix their roads, so that development can take place in their area. The call came when Thulamela's mayor, Sarah Rambuda, along with her executive committee and other officials, visited the village on Friday, 19 May, to brief Vho-Thovhele Rambuda Ratshibvumo II and other stakeholders about their intention to tax all businesses in villages.
Some of the youths who were present at the meeting seized the opportunity to engage the mayor about their frustrations. Fhumulani Murigwathoho read a petition listing their demands to the mayor. "We are not at all happy about the condition of our main D3695 road. This is the road that is supposed to bring development to the area, but no investor would be attracted this side because of the bad road," he said.
"This road was supposed to have been tarred a long time ago, but we do not know what stalled the construction. This area has many tourist attractions and we had hoped tourists would come in numbers and boost the local economy. We hoped investors would come and build malls. We are also an agricultural community, but big markets cannot access our produce because of the bad roads," he said.
Murigwathoho further indicated that the way the mayor ignored the road that she herself used every day was surprising. "How can the mayor promise other communities better roads while her own roads are inaccessible? Charity begins at home. Future generations will blame her for not doing anything to improve their lives during her tenure as mayor. The mayor used to drive an expensive Mercedes sedan, but because of the bad roads, she is now using a 4x4 bakkie. What about us who do not have the luxury of choosing cars? We are now saying, please complete our promised road or we will be forced to embark on protests," Murigwathoho said.
Thovhele Ratshibvumo II agreed that the roads were very bad. "We are not happy at all about the state of our roads. There cannot be any development with this type of bad roads. The community is not happy, and we call on Government to do something about the state of our roads," he said.
Efforts to elicit comment from the municipal spokesperson, Mr Nndwamato Tshiila, drew a blank as he ignored calls to him on Monday (22nd) and Tuesday (23rd).