He said this negatively impacts development and a withdrawal of funds from the government. While speaking during an imbizo held at Rotterdam village in the Greater Letaba Municipality, Shayi outlined projects currently running in the district, including in Giyani, Tzaneen, Phalaborwa, and Greater Letaba, which is said to heavily rely on boreholes as the Middle Letaba Dam is dry.

“Service delivery works best when communities take ownership of projects that are brought to their areas rather than allowing individuals to control them. “It has happened that government brings a project to a specific community, some individuals would then hijack the project and demand to be employed while the rest of the community stands by and does nothing,” he explained.

Also read: Over R4 billion later still little progress with Giyani water

Shayi said this results in the project being stalled until its implementation period elapses. “One thing you must know is that when the National Treasury supply money for a particular project, it also comes with a time frame by which it should be completed or the money is withdrawn,” he continued. He urged communities to work together to bring development to their areas.

“If you delay a project up to a point where the monies are withdrawn, the whole community would lose because it takes time for the government to reallocate money to same project that was not completed,” he added. He said that instead of having the National Treasury withdraw the monies, the district would rather reallocate the monies to other projects.

“This is what we’re going to do in Giyani. People are fighting there for things that do not make sense. I talked to the minister, and he said, ‘Shayi, let’s just move the project elsewhere because the community fails to defend its own project’,” he said. The water reticulation project in Mageva village is said to be running well. “We’re 86% complete, and have another project in Xikukwani that is running well,” he said. He said the district expects phase one of the water reticulation project in Giyani to be completed soon.