DA’s allegations about Muyexe project are unfounded – agriculture dept

THE DA Limpopo leader, Jacques Smalle’s allegations in CV last week about the multi-billion rand presidential pilot project in Muyexe village are unfounded and misleading to the public.

This was according to Sipho Dikgale, spokesperson for agriculture MEC Joy Matshoge, following the DA’s allegation that they found the Muyexe presidential project in an ailing state during their site visit. He said it was unfortunate that Smalle’s wanted to discredit the government and Matshoge.

“Smalle said only two women worked at the poultry project instead of six, as promised. The truth is that the project had six women from the initial phase, one woman has since passed away and the other one secured employment somewhere else outside the project.

“As a department, we won’t be able to either prescribe or restrict the movement of these women. The MEC and department cannot be blamed for the fact that only two women were found on site on the day of the DA visit,” he said.

“According to Smalle, the water supply infrastructure installation was at a standstill except for some pipes that were recently laid to impress the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on their recent visit to the village.

“Both the poultry and vegetable projects have water. The department constructed a reservoir, drilled a borehole and laid pipes from the borehole to the projects and installed a 2 500 litre tank. This infrastructure was constructed during the initial phase of the project. We are not impressed by unfounded allegations that suggest we only laid pipes to impress the NCOP.

“Access to water was a crisis as there was only one incomplete borehole. The department provided borehole water for agricultural production projects and water for consumption is provided by the department of water affairs. Its level of sufficiency is their responsibility.

“The women’s community beadwork project has never received any funding except from a private donor. This project is not facilitated by the department of agriculture and rural development,” said Dikgale.