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CDM hosted the State of the District Address (SODA) at Molemole Municipality – Mohodi Ga-Manthata on the 26 May 2017. More than 3000 people from all over the district came in numbers to support this event.
This SODA takes place during the year in which one of the key architects of the free and democratic South Africa, Mr Oliver Reginald Tambo, would have turned 100 years old, had he lived. Oliver Reginald Tambo was a unifier, a visionary, an intellectual and an internationalist par excellence. Tambo kept the movement of the people together during the most difficult time of the struggle against apartheid by always taking time to listen and engage his fellow comrades and compatriots without undermining any view no matter how dissenting such an opinion may be.
The following was a highlight by the Executive Mayor Cllr John Mpe. In fulfilling our constitutional mandate and in meeting our obligations as dictated by the applicable local government statutes, today as we speak we were able to cover:-
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On electricity, 96,1% of the people of our district with electricity
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In terms of water, we are happy to announce that 76% of the households are provided with water. The remaining backlog is 24%.
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We are happy with the progress made that 61% of household has got access to adequate sanitation facilities
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30,8% households have access to refuse removal
In all these areas, all municipalities and departments are hard at work to ensure the backlogs is addresses
We have embarked of various programmes that are aiming at ensuring that all the people who deservedly so are able to get proper formal dwellings. The 2011 census has proven that 93% of the population have formal dwelling. This is because of the efforts that has been taken in ensuring that our people gets proper houses, however, even as we note this achievement we are quiet aware that most of our villages today including here at Mohodi, it used to be impossible for the village like this to get a tarred road. Today we are happy that our people are able to access tarred road closer to where they leave. This includes places in the rural areas.
It is clear that the challenges still remain, Oliver Tambo would have told us that “yes you have made progress is made, I understand that today is better than yesterday, however, let us work much harder to ensure that unemployment, inequality and poverty becomes a thing of a past from our people.
As we continue to progress on issues of water supply, we still have a challenge on operation and maintenance. People are still receiving water on intervals due to the lack of adequate operations and maintenance. Another construction to the shortages of water is the ageing water infrastructure needs to be replaced. We also know that the needs of the people are unlimited whilst the means is limited.
As a municipality, it is our intention to make sure that in the next financial year our people are able to access basic services like water, electricity, housing, health care and so forth.
Despite the high rate of unemployment in the Capricorn district, the Executive Mayor, Cllr. John Mpe, said the district’s economy has grown faster than other districts and that it is now the major contributor to the province’s economy at 24 %.
Cllr. Mpe announced this during the Capricorn District Municipality (CDM) State Of the District Address (SODA) held at Mohodi in Molemole Municipality last Friday on the 26th of May.
He said the economic growth shows that all sectors of their local economy have performed well in the period under review and they pride themselves in this.
“We want this economic growth to translate into a tangible, better life by responding to the changing population dynamics, especially now that our district is the epicentre and the seat of the capital city.
“In particular, we need a significant increase in private sector investment and competitiveness in all sectors of the local economy including agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and mining, and every sector has to play its part in expanding trade, investment and job creation.”
He mentioned that the 37% blanket rate of unemployment, and the 54% youth unemployment figures, present an unacceptable face of poverty and hopelessness. He said they are determined to reinforce their role in the spirit of entrepreneurship and bring a new face to cooperatives.
Executive Mayor Mpe emphasised that access to water continues to remain a serious challenge in some parts of the district, and that seven projects are currently being implemented to provide 12 179 households in several villages of the Molemole Municipality with water.
“The municipality is exploring the possibility of moving from term contractors to in-house maintenance and this means we will have to buy our own replacement parts and tools and hire our own artisans to repair breakdowns or leaks. With regard to water quality, the water testing laboratory we built and completed in partnership with the University of Limpopo is fully functional and plans for expansion are underway to invite other water services authorities,” he said.
He added that they will continue with their Indigent Policy and free basic services programmes to ensure poor households are not excluded from accessing clean water.
“We are going to work and cooperate with the office of the Auditor General and are pleased to say that our municipality has received an unqualified audit for the third consecutive year.”
Molemole Mayor, Cllr Edward Paya, said they are going to work hand-in-hand with the district to ensure all the remaining villages struggling without water supply, have access to clean water.
“We are gratified that the mayor also touched on the issue of proper roads and we believe this will play a huge role in decreasing the surge of protests in our communities.”
Kgosigadi Mankwe Manthata said royalty still experiences challenges relating to service demands from their people, and they are not responsible for that.
“We believe this SODA will play a crucial role in improving our people’s lives for the better and we are happy there will be projects running within our municipality which we hope will create job opportunities for our people,” Manthata concluded.
