The ongoing protest by residents from Nkowa Nkowa and the surrounding villages outside
Tzaneen in Limpopo is far from over. This after the negotiations with the local mayor,
Gerson Molapisane, failed to yield some positive solution. Residents barricaded the R36 (also known as Lydenburg road) on Sunday and blocked traffic to and from Tzaneen.
The leader of Tzaneen Speak Out, a community-based advocacy group created to address
their grievances, Miyelani Ramojela, told Sunday World that they have been without water
for years now. If they get it, it’s too limited and only for a short period.
Electricity and water problems
To add to their woes, they have been experiencing ongoing electricity Load reduction. And this is messing up with their daily lives.
“As the community, we have had enough about these. And our continuous plea to the municipality to solve this problem seems to have fallen on deaf ears. We always get a promise after another,” said Ramojela.
“Remember that Nkowa Nkowa is a township. Therefore, going for weeks without water while people are using the flushing toilets has been a difficult mission.”
The mayor has failed to come and address the protesting residents over the past two days. As a result, the protest has brought business operations to a standstill. And both the affected Tzaneen and Nkowa Nkowa Taxi Associations intervened. They joined the strike until the mayor was forced to come and address them.
“The mayor was heavily escorted by police in a number of police vehicle, including a Nyala Armoured Personnel Carrier. How on earth does one go to the people who voted him into power under such threatening manner,” asked Ramojela.
Mayor repeated what he always tells residents
He alleged that the mayor still failed to address their grievances. He only told
them what he has told them previously.
About electricity load reduction, said Ramojela: “The mayor said municipality has nothing to do with it. He said because that entirely depends on Eskom. And he promised to send some delegations to the power utility to get answers.”
Ramojela said residents felt that the mayor was undermining them as he was rudely
addressing them. They erupted into chaos, and the mayor was whisked away by police. The residents went back to R36 to continue blocking the road for traffic.
Similar incidents are taking place in Lenyenye township, a few kilometres outside Nkowa Nkowa.
