Mayor commits to partnership

GIYANI – GREATER Giyani mayor Pat Hlungwani met with a newly-formed development committee in Siyandhani village on Saturday during an event to mark the end of service delivery protests in the village.

The committee was formed last year during service delivery protests, where the mayor intervened and started a dialogue between his office and the leaders of the protests.

This finally brought peace to the area.

A year after the protests, which resulted in the arrest of 57 people, the community resolved to celebrate the day as an achievement because most issues that they had been fighting for had been resolved.

Speaking at the event, the chairperson of the development committee, Given Nghunyule, who was also the former chairperson of Siyandhani Youth in Action that staged the protests against poor service delivery in the village last year, said they were committed to doing things the right way.

“As a development committee we have realised that protests do not always solve problems. That is why we commit ourselves to working with you (Hlungwani) in an amicable way to further resolve our issues and push for development in our village,” he said.

In response the mayor said he appreciated the fact that there was an organised committee that was willing to engage with the municipality on development issues.

“I remember last year when we wanted to come here we had to first check the security measures to ensure that we would be safe, but today you’re an organised committee that is able to engage with us,” said Hlungwani.

“Others may not have understood your actions as young people when you stood up and demanded services, but as leaders in government we understood you well. You could not have pushed us out of our offices to come to you if you had not done what you did,” he said.

Hlungwani committed himself to working in partnership with the committee on issues of development in the village.

“We are ready to work with the development committee to ensure that we develop this village in a manner that would create sustainable jobs for all residents,” he said.

However, Hlungwani also urged the young people of the village to work hard and create their own job opportunities rather than wait for the government to give them jobs.

“You know what they say, if an opportunity does not knock, you must build your own door,” he continued, saying it was important that people created their own opportunities since government could not help everybody.