Chief Whip visits Silobela public
We can't have in excess of 120 mines in the region and still have such a high unemployment rate,
Chief Whip of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature, Mr Johanne Musa Mkhatshwa, visited Silobela, Carolina for an Imbizo held at Silobela Community Hall last Thursday.
The departments of Social Development and Health as well as the Police made presentations to members of the community who packed the hall.
Speaking on behalf of the Executive Mayor of Chief Albert Luthuli, Ms Busi Shiba, municipal Chief Whip Mr Dan Nkosi reflected on the strides the municipality had made to date.
He said since 2011 more than 7 000 residents of the municipality receive clean water in various forms such as boreholes and water tankers.
“More than 4 000 people receive descant sanitation, 60 kms of roads have been tarred and some paved, more than 7 240 people received electricity, 3 214 households have their waste removed weekly and for the first time the municipality received an unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General for the financial year 2013/14,” said Mr Nkosi.
Ms Lydia Manyi (sub district manager) for the Department of Social Development spoke about the various services her department offers the community. She encouraged senior citizens to report abuse from their grandchildren.
“Help with substance and drug abuse is one of the programmes we offer to our community. Parents with children abusing drugs, alcohol and other substances must come out and ask for help,” said Ms Manyi.
Carolina Police spokesman, Cons Jeffery Malaza, explained different crimes that have been escalating in Carolina and said electrical appliances are mostly targeted during housebreaking.
“We want to warn you all against buying stolen meat at cheaper prices. That meat is from stock-theft and we will not hesitate to arrest you,” explained Cons Malaza.
Mr Mkhatshwa delivered the key note address in which he spoke harshly to the youth that has disregarded sacrifices made by the youth of 1976. He went on to encourage the youth to invest in education and forget about tenderpreneurship as it is not always sustainable.
“I want to warn you young people against the burning and destruction of government property during protests. Be careful of people using you to achieve their selfish goals, stay at school and remember that no one can ever take your education away from you,” warned Mr Mkhatshwa.
Giving messages of support, Gert Sibande Regional Chairperson of the ANCYL, Mr Trevor Nkosi, challenged both the municipal and provincial leadership to ensure that local mines invest in the communities they operate in, especially in the youth.
“We appeal to the leadership to organise a mine indaba to discuss issues of skills development and so forth. It is time municipalities revisited the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). It’s high time these young people are sent to attend local colleges for two or three days to learn skills for when they exit the programme and we can’t have in excess of 120 mines in the region and still have such a high unemployment rate,” said Mr Nkosi.
