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Pro Makhado spokesperson Mr Nsovo Sambo said they gave the government 14 days to sort out issues.

Vuwani shutdown averted - if only for 14 days

 

The Vuwani shutdown arising in 2016 after residents of the area refused to become part of a new municipality, including Malamulele, and left 30 schools burnt down or severely damaged, was suspended after the intervention of the then president Jacob Zuma and the Vhavenda king.

As part of the interim intervention, the Vhembe District Municipality was to take over all the services in the Vuwani area while the issue was being resolved.

Since the promise to give service to the area, nothing has happened and residents of Vuwani are still waiting to see changes in their lives.

After several meetings with the government, residents realised that nothing had happened yet and, during a recent meeting, decided that enough was enough and they would go back to the streets.

The total shutdown was scheduled for Monday, 11 June 2018, when everything would have come to a halt.

A last-minute meeting held at the Vuwani Fire Station between the government, led by Coghsta MEC Jerry Ndou and director general Mr Nape Nchabeleng, and the Pro Makhado Demarcation Task Team saved what could have been yet another ugly situation for the residents of Vuwani.

Pro Makhado spokesperson Mr Nsovo Sambo said they had decided to give the government a chance after holding what he called fruitful engagements with provincial leaders in addressing issues that had been raised in their petition.

He said it gave them hope that something good might come out of the engagement after the MEC committed his unwavering support to addressing the grievances of the people of Vuwani, after which the MEC will soon engage Minister Zweli Mkhize in finding a lasting solution to re-determine the municipal boundaries of the area in question.

Sambo further said it was also resolved that the MEC, with the powers vested in him by the municipal structures Act 117 of 1998, would issue a notice to enable the provincial government and Vhembe District Municipality to be empowered to provide services in Vuwani’s affected wards.

“Government must provide us with a list of Grant-Funded Projects from the current financial year and next financial year which must be implemented by Coghsta. It must also improve its reporting standards in terms of the progress being made in implementing the executive council resolution,” said Sambo.

He added that they as residents had given the government a period of 14 days, effective from the date of the meeting on 9 June 2018, to come up with a strategy. “We believe the approach by the MEC will provide a lasting solution to this matter as he indicated that this situation cannot be allowed to drag on without finding a lasting solution. It is in this context that we decided to call off the shutdown as a temporary measure, failing which we will be forced to go back to the drawing board,” Sambo said.

 

MEC Jerry Ndou (seated left) and other attendees during the meeting at Vuwani Fire Station.

 

Date:18 June 2018

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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