People fight new muni idea
A GROUP of people, calling themselves 'Pro-Makhado', travelled to Pretoria to hand in their formal objection to the National Demarcation Board (NDB) entailing why they did not want to fall under the jurisdiction of the newly-proposed municipality.
LIMPOPO – A GROUP of people, calling themselves ‘Pro-Makhado’, which represents 87 villages, travelled to Pretoria to hand in their formal objection to the National Demarcation Board (NDB) entailing why they did not want to fall under the jurisdiction of the newly-proposed municipality.
Spokesperson for Pro-Makhado, Arnold Mulaudzi, said the motivation behind the formal objection was for the NDB to stop pushing them to accept a municipality they do not want.
“We are in a democratic country where we can’t allow anyone to dictate us. We hired five buses to transport approximately 500 local civic leaders, pastors, committees from different churches, and business people to meet Jane Thupana, the chairperson of the NDB, and tell her on black and white that we don’t want to be part of the new municipality. Traditional leaders are also going to Pretoria today (Wednesday),” Mulaudzi said.
“There is no economic viability in the area that is going to form a new municipality, so Thupana should leave us alone. We have bundles and bundles of documents to oppose Thupana’s idea of grouping indigents to form a municipality. There is political influence in this matter. We have also sent a petition to premier, Stanley Mathabatha. There will be a total shutdown in Vuwani on Friday. You can’t group indigents together and dictate to them to form a new municipality.”
In February, Thupana said the key factors that made her office decide not to grant a new municipality in Malamulele alone included financial viability, administrative capacity, the consequences of the boundary re-determination on existing municipalities and the need to rationalise the total number of municipalities.
Previously, cooperative government and traditional affairs minister, Pravin Gordhan, indicated that Vhembe should have three municipalities namely Makhado, Thulamela and Musina, after the disbandment of the ailing Mutale Municipality. “We don’t know why Thupana is forcing us to be part of the new municipality,” Mulaudzi reiterated.
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