North West residents still waiting for basic services after years of begging the government

They approached the municipality, visited the provincial government to beg for basic services and wrote to the president for intervention, yet they received no joy.

Residents of several rural villages outside Madikwe in the North West had resorted to begging the government and the local municipality for service delivery. But nobody listened to their plight or took them seriously, only empty promises at every door they knocked on, including the Presidency.

Residents ignored by government

They were disappointed by the North West provincial government, including the Premier’s Office, provincial Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the Moses Kotane Local Municipality, which never attended to or addressed their needs.

For decades, the community has been asking the municipality and the provincial administration to provide basic services, such as health facilities, home affairs, water supply, a police station and refurbishment of the badly damaged D543 road, the main road in all the villages. They also wrote numerous letters to highlight their plight to the provincial department.

Main road needs urgent attention

At some point, the desperate villagers were informed by the provincial legislature portfolio committee members that money was budgeted for the delivery of basic services in the 2019/20 financial year, including the upgrading of the D543 main road. Nothing came.

“Our biggest struggle is the very bad and stony gravel road from the T-junction of Baphiring and Moubana road (D543 Road) that turns into a dam during the rainy season.

“It can be brought to your attention, Honourable President, that during the rainy season, normal schooling is disturbed and halted because 80% of the teachers commute daily to and from Rustenburg using D543,” the letter said.

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They said the damaged main road or lack of access road to the village negatively impacted the residents’ daily activities. Public transport often dropped commuters about 10 kilometres to the village, and they had to walk home.

‘Nothing happened’ after letter to Ramaphosa

The community and traditional leaders of Mmatau and other villages affected wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2021 requesting his intervention. Dealing directly with the Presidency gave them hope that action would follow, “but nothing happened”, as they put it.

They produced copies of letters they wrote to the North West provincial government and the Presidency.  Their pleas to the provincial authorities and the Moses Kotane municipality also fell on deaf ears.

Empty promises

The correspondence showed that the offices, including the Presidency, responded and promised to investigate, but to date, no action has been taken.

“The road is still an eyesore, and none of the social services we requested have been delivered. We beg them to fix the D543 road at least for now,” an irate resident said.

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The problem goes back at least 30 years after the democratic government took over. The former Bophuthatswana homeland government used to maintain the formerly tarred road, which has become a gravel road that turns into a muddy swamp on rainy days.

In a letter dated 15 June 2021 to Ramaphosa, the Bakwena Ba Modimosana Ba Matau Traditional Council explained how they resorted to crowd-funding and collected R50 per household in Mmatau to provide for services themselves after the local and provincial governments failed to assist them with basic services.

The letter was accompanied by photographs showing buses, trucks and funeral vehicles stuck in the mud. The potholes have become small dams.

‘Appalling experience’

Three months after sending the department a letter in June 2021, community leader Mothusi Dire wrote another in September to the provincial department, reminding it to act as the rainy season was coming.

“It’s been five weeks since I sent an email below. Really, this is an appalling experience coming from those who are supposed to really consider our challenges as citizens and see them through. I’m reiterating again: The rainy season is upon us. What is the resolution for Bakwena ba Modimosana?” Dire wrote.

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With the basic services not delivered and the road not fixed, the residents asked Ramaphosa to intervene. “The community of Mmatau is hereby and humbly requesting the intervention of the President of the Republic of South Africa (Hon Mr Cyril Ramaphosa) to assist in getting the above-mentioned basic services delivered to the desperate, needy and poor rural community as soon as the government can intervene and or respond,” they wrote.

After the Presidency failed to resolve the problem and more rain came, Dire wrote more follow-up letters reminding the president and the provincial department about their plight and the appalling condition of the main road. To date, the authorities have not shown any willingness to assist them.

The D543 road remains unfixed, and no services have been delivered.

Neither the Presidency nor the provincial authorities were available for comment.