Residents of Dludluma, Ngwenyeni and surrounding villages in Nkomazi in Mpumalanga have shut down the areas. They are demanding the provision of services, including water.
Tree logs have been used to blockade roads. The angry locals want the rural Nkomazi Municipality to account for the projects promised since 2017.
“Lack of service delivery, no electricity, no water, no clinic, no hall, high rate of unemployment and corruption within our society and we are not going back until our demands are meet,” a resident said.
“Our government has been failing us, we are 30 years into democracy, but government is not doing anything. As we speak Dludluma only has PME school and is a combined school and we have multiple number of learners there and some are staying far from the school and they are walking long distances from the school,” another resident explains.
“We blocked the road because we want Mandla Ndlovu,” another resident elaborates.
The shutdown is in its fifth day. Community members claim that government treats them as voting fodders, something they intend to change.
“It is not the first we closed the road, it looks like our government doesn’t take us seriously when they come here they just make empty promises and after they just leave us like that now it looks like they don’t want to engage us and we are frustrated because our kids can’t go to school now. Our plan is to walk to their offices in Malelane,” says Bongi Lubusi, community leader.
Meanwhile, the embattled Nkomazi Local Municipality accuses residents of being responsible for the shortage of water in their area. The municipality claims to be spending millions of rands for water provision, but their efforts are frustrated by community members who temper with the pipes.
“The unfortunate part of it is that the community are tampering with the bulk line, there are illegal connections which makes our reservoirs to be empty because the main bulk has been badly damaged,” says Cyril Repinga from Nkomazi Local Municipality.
The residents have threatened to boycott the upcoming elections should their demands not be addressed.
