Many months ago l was one of the happiest people to have seen former executive mayor of Gert Sibande, Mr Andries Gamede being sworn in as a member of the provincial legislature, and l thought to myself; now things are going to start happening in terms of service delivery in the province.

Months later he was sowrn in as the new MEC for human settlements and l said to myself; now is the beginning of bigger things to come in terms of housing provision for the poor.

For me to have such high praises for Gamede is because l have seen practical work that he has meted out in the Gert Sibande district municipality. It was a good thing that when cabinet was reshuffled the premier thought very wisely to appoint him to this crucial portfolio, which is housing. Many poor people have been suffering under numerous false promises for house, for which billions of rand have been spent, but no houses have been delivered to deserving citizens.

my call to gamede is: deliver on your mandate and the government’s promises. The people are tired of false hopes.

You recently announced the erection of middle income and low-cost houses between White River and Nelspruit, people need them and speedily so. can you imagine how much they have to fork out each month for rent in town and others having to travel from the various townships into town for work, but you chose to bring them closer to their workplaces, which is good.

There’s been much talk about middle income housng, let alone low-cost, for years, for the past 19 years of democracy, but it all fell away with each financial year, but during budget speech presentations, it has always been outlined as forthcoming. People have no time for talk-shows within government, but need action from very committed personnel.

One other feather in the hat of the government, is the positive news about the establishment of the university, at last. Whether some pundits believe it or not, it seems being around the corner already as adverts have already started being published for vacancies only the past week. i must say, if we want a good university, let’s give it the normal gradual build-up as it’s always been said the rome was not built in one day.