Concerned residents plead for assistance
AN ESKOM vehicle and a truck was set alight on the N11 by residents of Mzombane village last week.
MOKOPANE – AN ESKOM vehicle and a truck was set alight on the N11 by residents of Mzombane village last week.
The residents were protesting for their right to service delivery.
“We have been residents in Mzombane village for the past 11 years; there are more than 3 500 houses with families that do not have electricity or running water. This issue is being addressed for the last nine years and we have raised our concerns to more than 10 government offices and still nothing has been done.
“Chief Lesiba Kekana said he had a court order interdicting us from the land, but according to the community the court order is fake as it is stated at Ga-Kgobudi village and not Mzombane village,” said Masenya Matsobane, chairperson of the Mzombane village. The angry residents of Mzombane blocked off the N11 in front of Mzombane village on May 12 and 13 and protested. During the protest a Eskom vehicle and a truck was set alight. When Bosveld asked the residents why they had burnt these vehicles, they said: “When you want to know the owner of the dog you just have to kick it and the owner will come forth.”
In 2009 Joseph Modungwazi Masenge, community leader of Mzomabane at that time, obtained a court order from the Mokerong magistrate’s court Kekana and the Mogalakwena Municipality, stating that the respondents be inter-dicted from directly or indirectly destroying or damaging properties of the applicants located at 7 Miles Mokerong, Mzombane Village in the Mogalakwena municipality; the first respondent nor his subjects be interdicted from entering 7 Miles; and the applicants are the lawful owners of 7 Miles section.
“Even after this court order was obtained Mzombane village has still not been formalised into a township and we still do not have service delivery,” Matsobane said.
On March 6 the acting municipal manager, Phudi Selepe, responded in a letter to the public protector stating: “The municipality is prohibited by a court judgment that is still pending in the high court between the traditional leader and the residents of Mzombane in order for the former to provide basic services to the area in terms of the municipal IDP. The first step in the providing of services was to formalise Mzombane into a township and for the past financial year a budget was allocated for the formalisation of Mzombane. Due to the pending court case the allocation was diverted to other areas until there is an outcome in the pending court case”.
The residents made it clear that they would keep on fighting for their rights until the matter was resolved. “I have no comment with regard to this matter. I have a valid court order and the community is welcome to go to court,” Kekana said.
Mogalakwena mayor, Tlhalefi Mashamaite, said: “We are investigating the matter and are in the process of arranging a meeting between stakeholders.”
Two suspects were arrested for public violence during the protest and will appear before the Mokerong Magistrates court in Mahwelereng on June 8.
