Residents’ wishlist for muni

POLOKWANE – When the Polokwane mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng gave her state of the city address last week, the municipality was applauded for their future endeavours in the municipality.

With what the municipality promised to achieve, Review asked residents what they thought of these promises and if there was anything on their wishlist.

Jimmy Mafungo said he was happy with the promises the mayor made during the state of the city address. He however would like to see rubbish bins getting emptied more often and businesses receiving bigger bins.

“I sell food in my shop and when there is a bad smell from the overflowing bins, people do not want to buy food. This means I lose business. The municipality can help me in this regard,” Mafungo said.

Rosina Hlahla said she stayed in Moletjie and that people were in need of water in her area.

She said she was glad that the mayor spoke about providing water to areas such as Moletjie, but would like to see the municipality make good on their promises and give people what they needed.

“We have to travel far for fresh water and if the municipality provides us with our own taps, it will make life easier,” Hlahla said.

Lillian Letseko said she thought the municipality was doing fine and that the mayor’s state of the city address told of the progress made in the past years, but people needed jobs. “There is a big factory that was closed in Seshego. People turn to crime when they do not have work, and if the municipality looks into giving people jobs, there will be less crime in the city,” she said.

Brenda Mashau said she felt the promise of repairing and building roads spoke to her directly. She said she stayed in Moletjie and there were a lot of problems with the roads.

“We need the municipality to assist in this regard and help us with better roads. Less time spent driving on bad roads will be time spent on things that will assist in the growth of the city and will reflect better on the municipality and the mayor as it will show the people that they do care and look after their people and voters,” Mashau said.

Virginia Thobela said she was eager to hear about the tarrif increases, but nothing was mentioned in the state of the city address. She said residents needed to see that the municipality looked after their own.

“For us on the ground, these tariff hikes are killing us. It must be bad for the municipality when the people they serve suffer due to these hikes and are not able to do basic things like switch on a light or have clean running water,” Thobela said.

Angela du Ponte said she had a very simple request from the municipality; that they make the city look and smell clean.

“We have a beautiful city, but it looks like a third world country.”

Polokwane mayor talks about state of the city