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Lobatla residents lament lack of service delivery amid erection of memorial walls

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The erection of a remembrance monument of nine walls at Lobatla, in Zeerust, North West, has highlighted the poor state of service delivery in the area.

The community says it’s inexcusable that this monument in honour of the Luthuli Detachment liberation heroes, is expected to attract tourists, while services are not delivered in the area.

The Nine walls of remembrance represent nine provinces. This monument is meant to honour Liberation Heroes who used Lobatla village as a passage to exile, leading to Botswana as an exit point.

This 2018 project is incomplete, as the names of most of the Luthuli Detachment struggle heroes have not been added yet.

Thabo Mabe, who is the Chief Director at the Department of Arts and Culture says almost a million rand was spent on the project.

“We’ve spent about just under R940 000 where we put up the walls we put names of all the provinces and the aim is to depict that of all the provinces in South Africa, none of the inhabitants did not pass through the area of Lehurutshe into Botswana to go into exile and as well as coming back. It is expected to be a multi-year project in other words it is not a project that was supposed to happen within one year to put up the walls.”

Residents say the state of service delivery in Lobatla is appalling and developments are urgently needed. Community members complained about the poor state of roads and the lack of water. The village has a few taps servicing about 369 households.

“Our village which is Lobatla is so small and it needs development so that we can cater for our tourists. We need parks and roads so that our monuments can look much better” says one resident.

Another one says, “I’m not satisfied. I’m not happy. I was happy when they started with this project but at this point, we can’t even see what they’re doing just look at the area.”

Others hope the monument will create economic opportunities. “Those tombstones, I’m so impressed. I’m happy about those things because it’s something that will attract the tourists.”

Not everyone is completely satisfied with the project, however. African National Congress Veterans Regional Chairperson, Shwai Mangope says proper consultations were not done.

“It hasn’t been done or designed with enough consultations. And the other thing is the names as they appear here.  Because I think the records are still there in Luthuli House archives. There is a name of a person that is given by the parents of baptized name and there’s a name that the person was allocated which is called a combat name when they went into exile. So when you come to the names on the stones here, somewhere and combat name is given and the real name of the person is not there.”

Mabe says the Department  is in discussion with other government entities to ensure better services in the area

“We have already consulted with the national department of tourism and the provincial department of tourism we are partnering with them so that we are able to package. We know that the roads are bad at the moment but that’s the rule of another arm of government which we are also engaged with.”

With the memorial wall still being constructed, It’s yet to be seen if the historical Lobatla village will be developed further.

The Monument in honour of the Liberation Heroes in this video dated September 2019: 

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