Operation Mabone grinds to a halt yet again

BURGERSFORT – Residents are losing patience with the Greater Tubatse Municipality (GTM), after another so-called service-delivery initiative looks likely to fail.

Operation Mabone has temporarily come to a standstill again and the contractor, Mr Lufuno Mphaphuli of Mphaphuli Consultings, allegedly left all working sites.

The operation was earmarked to light up 21 villages, but only four have received electricity so far. In June last year, the mayor of GTM, Cllr Ralepane Mamekoa told locals during the state of municipality address that more than 3 000 households would have power by September last year.

“The villages to be electrified are Kutullo, Kopi, Mapareng, Kgopaneng, Buffelshoek Kalkfontein, Barelong, Dibakwane, Maphutle, Kampeng, Mandela Park, France, Leboeng, Dithamaga, Taung, Malaeneng, Sekopung, Makofane, Pidima, Matokomane, Makotaseng, and Praktiseer extensions 3 and 11,” the mayor said, while being applauded by a large crowd.

Five months after the agreed September deadline, 17 villages still do not have access to electricity and, according to sources, the contractor has disappeared into thin air.

In an effort to get a response as to why the operation had fallen flat, Praktiseer residents organised a meeting with the mayor and GTM municipal manager (MM) Mr Joe Mohlala on Thursday January 28.

The mayor shifted the blame on the contractor, claiming he was dividing the communities and GTM.

“As we realised the contractor was not going to reach the September deadline, we demanded a progress report to assess what he had done but he failed to send it to us.

“We have paid Mphaphuli Consultings an amount of R168 million, which is almost 70 per cent of what is needed to complete the project. We are aware that he has not done even 50 per cent of the work,” Mamekoa said.

“He demanded a further R45 million to complete the project; we cannot give him this money as he has not even completed half of his work. There are still villages where poles have not even been delivered.

“The money is available, but we are scared that if we give the remaining amount to the contractor, he might leave without completing the work,” the mayor added.

In the meeting Mamekoa promised to invite Mphaphuli to the Batubatse Primary School in Praktiseer on February 1, to inform them about the operation being halted. The mayor also promised to bring proof of payment, confirming to the masses that GTM had indeed paid the contractor.

Steelburger/Lydenburg News went to the meeting on February 1, but both the mayor and the contractor refused to attend.

The paper contacted Mphaphuli on Wednesday February 3 and he admitted they had left some of the sites. “We are busy with our work at Makofane and Sekopung villages, we left in December after the municipality had failed to pay the money for the operation,” he said.

Mphaphuli alleged GTM always struggled to pay the money for the operation.

“I invoiced the municipality in June last year only to get the payment in November. I still have duties to pay the workers and the steering committee members.”

Mphaphuli said they had the worse festive season. “We were also not paid for December, I had to take my own money and pay the workers. The contract signed with the municipality is for R330 million.”If R168 million is paid to us, it would be 50,9 per cent of the contract amount.”Including the R18 million paid on January 22, it is 56 per cent of the contract amount,” Mphaphuli added.

The contractor said he would have a meeting with GTM today to solve the problems. “I hope we find a solution to this. I will provide information after the meeting,” he promised. The paper spoke to some of the project steering committee members who admitted that they had not been paid. “We don’t know who to believe between GTM and Mphaphuli, but someone is lying. We had not been paid,” they said. Operation Mabone was relaunched in April last year, after it had come to a halt in 2014. It involves stakeholders such as GTM, the Limpopo Department of Energy and Eskom. The project had been on everyone’s lips since 2011, when it was first announced.

In 2012, the total backlog of houses in need of electricity was 20 000. Statistics proved GTM had the biggest backlog in electricity in Limpopo.

In the meantime Praktiseer residents have lobbied the 17 villages that have not been electrified to a massive march to GTM but the date has not yet been confirmed. The residents also wrote letters to the Department of Energy, the Limpopo Office of the Premier and several government departments to enquire about the initiative.

The residents said they would not participate in the local elections if their areas were not electrified.