‘By-election promises have not been kept’
Residents of Kwena Moloto 1 says promises made have not been kept and they have had to wait with bated breath, year in and out, to see what damage would occur during the rainy season.
POLOKWANE – Residents of Kwena Moloto 1 have been faced with a predicament every time there has been heavy rainfall and it has gotten worse since 2016.
Having reported the problem to the municipality, residents have had to wait with bated breath, year in and out, to see what damage would occur during the rainy season.
The source of the problem is a stream of water that leads to a waterbed lying adjacent to houses in the area and whenever there is heavy rainfall, water fills up and overflows into the homes.
A resident, Gilbert Maleba told BONUS that during by-elections, residents were made promises that to date, have not been kept.
“We were given food parcels but when it’s time to deal with the serious problems, they are nowhere to be found. This is unacceptable,” he said.
Visiting the area, BONUS had difficulty accessing homes due to a delapidated bridge in which vehicles could not pass through due to eroding soil, washed away over time.
Matshidiso Mothapo, Head of Communication and Marketing at the Polokwane Municipality says the land belongs to Mashate wa Moletjie and is not promulgated to the municipality, hence it was not surveyed by spatial planning before people could be placed there.
“The traditional authority has power over land administration and there was poor planning on their side without consulting the municipality for proper demarcation of sites with studies conducted or basic assessments,” he explained.
He added that no reports were submitted for the municipality’s attention and they have developed a rural settlement strategy aimed at assisting the TLA for site demarcations.
The affected area must be assessed to determine it falls within an environmentally sensitive/flooding area and a strategy will divert a stormwater drainage channel to the nearby river or existing stormwater around the area.
“An assessment will have to be done to determine a budget and a solution to the problem. The municipality will also see if the problem can be solved by the residents themselves, or by the municipaltiy, since it is an environmentally sensitive issue,” he said. He further cautioned people to research the areas that they want to build on to avoid such challenges.
