GREATER Giyani mayor, Pat Hlungwani, told the community of Gon’on’o village that the R12 million they had accused the municipality of misusing was not squandered.
He said residents misunderstood the information that was communicated to them by municipal officials.
This follows a recent protest march by the community, demanding to know where the R12 million meant for the electrification of six villages around Giyani was.
At the time of the march, the community alleged that the municipality lied on its mid-term IDP report that it had electrified all six villages. They said only two villages had access to electricity. They demanded to know how the money was spent.
In response Hlungwani said the problem with the IDP report was that the person who presented it to the community of Gon’on’o village did not explain to them that the R12 million was to be spread out over a period of time.
He also said the budget still had to be looked at to secure more funds for the project.
“It should have been indicated that the electrification would take place over a period of time, not at once. What it means is that, out of the R12 million in question, we only received R8 million so far that we spent to electrify two villages out of the six that we intended to electrify,” explained the mayor.
He said this did not rule out the electrification process for the remaining four villages and said the municipality would continue where it left off as soon as it received the necessary funds from the department of mineral and energy.
Protesters alleged that Hlungwani personally hired six people for an Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) project in the area. He denied these allegations vehemently.
“Even though the project in question is handled in the office of the mayor, I have no hand in who should be employed,” he said.
“In some villages the ward councillor, chief, and the members of the community are the ones that decide who should be hired, I only intervene when that process is flawed,” he added, challenging those who claimed to have been hired by him to come forward.
The community accepted the mayor’s explanation on the issues they had raised on condition that he would continue to engage with them until their problems, including their demands for a tarred road to the village, access to clean water and electrification, were resolved.
“If we don’t get a positive response, the villagers agreed that we would embark on a violent protest where roads would be blocked. If your car happens to be anywhere around here, it will be burned guerrilla style,” warned Robert Maluleke on behalf of the community.
Patrick Govani, chairperson of the task team representing the community, then used his cell phone to call off residents that had been stationed in the bushes along the road to block the road should the mayor have given them an unsatisfactory report.
“We have received a positive response,” he said over the phone while sitting at a table with the mayor.
