While he admitted that he has been given a huge task as the leader of the local government, he brushed off the negative perceptions of the amalgamation.

In the hall packed with community members of all ages, he promised that the lives of people living in both towns will improve.

Minah Khukhwana is 54 and unemployed. She applied for an RDP in 2008 and is still waiting for one. No one in her family has a job and her grandchild’s social grant is spent on food.

Sanah Diedricks (42) used to sell vetkoek and bunny chows at a school until the teachers chased her away. She says she goes to sleep on an empty stomach and wakes up hungry.

Most of the concerns raised in the imbizo centred around service delivery, however. While the mayor promised to deal with these problems, he did not provide a specific time frame.

One concerned resident said eighty per cent of the residents are indigents who have not received free basic services for 6 to 7 years. He wanted to know what had happened to all that money. He also claimed that about 4 000 of the meters in Ventersdorp are faulty, making it almost impossible to get accurate meter readings.

Mike Motinyane, a former ANC councillor, asked for investigations into the R3.8 million that the cashiers of the former Ventersdorp Municipality have stolen and demanded that they should be brought to book.

Khumalo said incompetent contractors should be named, shamed and blacklisted and not be allowed to tender for any future municipal projects. He continued his no-nonsense stance by vowing to stop the corruption surrounding RDP houses. He warned residents not to sell their RDP houses to foreign nationals for tuckshops and then move back into the informal settlements. ‘We cannot keep on building RDP houses – we should rather be investing in the education of our children,’ he said.

The mayor said ‘indigents are entitled to 8 kilowatts of electricity, 10 kilolitres of water, sewer and sanitation services at no cost. Families with no breadwinners will be added to the indigent registry. Those who are struggling to pay should make alternative arrangements with the municipality,’ he said.

In December, the NW 405 Municipality paid Eskom R13 million of Ventersdorp’s R55 million debt. Last month, it paid an additional R10 million. The mayor assured his audience that the municipality would take care of the arrears.

The acting chief financial officer, Thapelo Zubane, called on people to take their account statements to the municipality if there are any discrepancies and assured that the municipality is in the process of fixing the faulty meters.

Peter Labuschagne, the manager of community services addressed the problem of illegal dumping and said it poses a health risk for the community. He urged residents to report the municipal officials who fail to collect the waste.

The Ventersdorp residents generally welcomed the imbizo and were happy that they could raise their problems.