MEC MTSHWENI URGES TRADITIONAL LEADERS TO HELP STOP PROTESTS

MEC MTSHWENI URGES TRADITIONAL LEADERS TO HELP STOP PROTESTS 

MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Leaders (COGTA) in Mpumalanga, Hon. Refilwe Mtshweni has urged traditional leaders to assist government in an effort to stop service delivery protests.

 Mtshweni was addressing traditional leaders and a local community in Oakley during the annual Mathibela Cultural ceremony, led by Kgoshi Mathibela Mokoena.

Mtshweni says the protests undermine government’s efforts to bring services such as water to the affected communities. “The supply of water to our communities is a key priority in Mpumalanga. All our municipalities have reprioritized their budgets to cater for water. However, these protests in areas like Mzinti in the Nkomazi Municipality undermine these efforts,” Mtshweni said. She urged Amakhosi to intervene. “We understand the difficulty of our communities of not getting water in affected areas. But protests and damage of public property is not a solution to the problem. We appeal to our traditional leaders to address the communities to be patient as government is dealing with the problem,’ she said.

She also made an appeal for them to warn communities against illegal connections to water and power lines. “Illegal connections to the water pipelines are a major obstacles to our water delivery plans. They cut the supply of the water to high reservoir tanks, leaving some of our communities dry. The transformers of the powerlines are overloaded and are damaged due to illegal connections. Municipalities loose millions of rands as they have to fix them. We appeal for your intervention to use your wisdom and your authority to prevent rural communities from sliding into anarchy,” MEC Mtshweni said.

During the ceremony, Kgoshi Mokoena announced the water intervention to the local schools.

“As a traditional council we have installed boreholes to 7 local schools in an effort to address the water challenge. This was made possible by the support of the local businesses,” he said. Kgoshi Mokoena added that by working together, a lot achieved.

The Mathibela cultural ceremony is a melting pot for cultural activities. Swazis, Shangaans and Pedis displayed their cultural dances. The traditional gear and traditional food beared testimony that the Mathibela cultural ceremony is held during September, the heritage month.