Lack of water and roads frustrate residents in Ephraim Mogale
LEEUWFONTEIN – Residents within Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality (EPMLM) were given an opportunity to engage with local government on service delivery issues during a joint IDP/Budget consultation by the local municipality and Sekhukhune District Municipality at the Leeuwfontein Township Community Hall last Friday.
The objective of the IDP/Buget consultation programme is to confer with members of the community on the best practices to identify opportunities and constraints of development in the residents’ respective areas.
The sizable number of residents gathered at the hall raised amongst other developmental challenges, the persistent lack of access to sustainable provision of water by the SDM, poor internal roads infrastructure, which is a responsibility of the local municipality and the inaccessible economic opportunities.
Residents of Mathukuthela Village were lived about the approved area’s internal roads infrastructure project which was envisaged for commencement in 2021 and to be completed by 2022.
The angry residents lashed out at the EPMLM as the roads project never started and were not informed on the developments on it.
According to the residents, a letter was written to the local municipality enquiring about the road project late last year but to date their attempted communication has not been responded to.
The silence of the local municipality sends the residents into frustrations as they remain forced to travel long unsafe paths to access transport when they need services in other neighbouring areas or towns.
They say modes of transport were not readily available for them because the state of the roads in the area was poor.
They also complaint that they have had confrontations of lack of access to water for years but the SDM was not attending to their situation.
“We are really struggling as the residents of Mathukuthela. We only see water in our area during elections. After the elections, there is no water in this village. Government must urgently attend to our concerns,” said the residents.
On behalf of SDM Executive Mayor, Maleke Mokganyetji, Member of the Mayoral Committee on Infrastructure, Water and Sanitation, Bella Kupa told the attendees that water projects were receiving urgent attention and through that through the Fetakgomo-Tubatse Special Economic Zone, economic opportunities would be unblocked for all residents of the district.
