The impasse between the government and the people of Vuwani, who have resisted their inclusion into and being serviced by the new Lim 345 municipality seems to have reached boiling point.
If Monday's protest march by hundreds of angry residents of Vuwani in Thohoyandou is anything to go by, all signs are that the short-term Zuma-Mphephu settlement with the people of Vuwani is doomed.
For months, services in the area were marred by violent protests that left nearly 30 schools either torched or damaged. Many properties, government and private, were damaged in the wake of the violent protests in the area.
Several attempts by senior government officials, who included ministers and even deputy president Cyril Ramaphos, were made to bring back normality to the area, but they did not bear fruit. The last of the attempts was in May this year when President Zuma and King Toni Mphephu visited the area and left the residents with some hope.
Three months after the presidential pronouncement that the people of Vuwani, who have resisted moves to include them in a new municipality that includes Malamulele, would receive their services from the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM), the residents are still to receive any services.
Angered by the non-implementation of the promises, residents who were ferried to Thohoyandou by bus on Monday marched from the Univen park next to the Khoroni Hotel to the VDM's offices. They later handed over a memorandum of their grievances to the acting executive mayor, Cllr Thina Mbedzi. The government was given seven days to respond to the grievances by the residents.
There was heavy police presence, with a police helicopter hovering above the protestors. Pro-Makhado Demarcation Task Team spokesman Nsovo Sambo said they had hoped that the government would move with speed in bringing services to the people of Vuwani, but to their disappointment, nothing is happening.
"On 7 May, President Zuma, during his visit to Vuwani, made a announcement that the Vuwani area would be serviced by Vhembe District. It is very important to note that the pronouncement was just a compromise by the community. Out of that, we are yet to hear from the government, but months keep rolling by without any formal note. It is annoying the people of Vuwani, who have now vowed to take to the streets if the pronouncement is not executed," said Sambo.
He further indicated that residents demanded that the shut down offices in the area be opened urgently by Vhembe for them to access services, in line with the presidential pronouncement.
He said the problematic municipality of Malamulele must be ordered "to stop frustrating the peaceful community of Vuwani by using senseless police and ill-advised and inconsiderate ANC leaders in the district and the province."
Dr Alunamutwe Randitsheni, who represented the Vhembe Pastors Forum and took part in the march, urged all to pray for an amicable solution to the problem of Vuwani.