This comes after his village was divided into two wards by ANC branches. He said it did not make sense that one community that shares schools and churches, must attend different meetings to discuss matters that concern the same community. “It is frustrating to see people that socialise together have to attend different community meetings,” he explained. “I don’t know if someone is benefitting from this arrangement, but it certainly does not do us any good other than dividing us as a community.

“We’re not refusing to mix with other communities, but let us be together as one community, do not divide us,” he emphasised. Currently, the village is represented by two councillors, ward 10 and ward 21. Hosi Ngove’s comments were fuelled by complaints from community members affiliated with ward 21 about the manner in which jobs were allocated. They alleged that they were benefitting less compared to those affiliated with ward 10, yet they live in the same village.

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They want projects to be allocated equally among the members of the community regardless of which ward they live in. Ngove said it was not acceptable that one group is sidelined for the sake of another group with regard to job opportunities while they belong to one community. “As a chairperson of the ANC in the district, I hope you will be able to come up with a solution to our problem. Initially, they told us that we needed to have enough people to form a ward if we wanted to have our own ward councillor, which we did successfully.

“We even exceeded the required number, but they still divided us,” he told the Herald. Meanwhile, Shayi responded that the ANC would look into the matter of the divided wards.