By Emily Setona
QWAQWA – The speaker to the Free State Legislature Zanele Sifuba has fulfilled her promise when she brought both provincial and local leadership to answer the community’s burning questions regarding poor service delivery.
The community members of ward 15 gathered at the sports ground near Tsolo School, on 4 December for a much-awaited engagement session with the MEC of Corporate governance and traditional affairs and the executive mayor of Maluti – A – Phofung (MAP) Masetjhaba Lakaje -Mosia to air out their grievances regarding poor service delivery in their area.
During the engagement, Tsietsi Molise from ward 15 highlighted the struggles with water and often when JoJo tanks are sent to their area, they are told that it is to service families who are preparing for a funeral.
“I humbly request assistance with water, where I stay the communal JoJo is located far away and we struggle to access the water there. I just want water for my area, for the municipality to send JoJo tanks to give us water not just for families preparing for funerals,” Molise said when speaking to the government officials.
Madineo Mokoena said that her mother Disebo Kgwabane is disable with both her legs amputated and she has been living in a mud house for years now with no assistance from local government. “My mother is old and doesn’t have both legs, she has been living in a mud house that is in a very poor condition. I’d like to request assistance to get her an RDP house,” Mokoena said.
FS speaker Zanele Sifuba.
In response to the people’s pleas Lakaje-Mosia advised people who have funerals in this area to report this matter to their Chiefs and councillors so that a JoJo tank can be sent promptly but the solution of JoJo tanks is only temporary.
“Water will soon come to the community of ward 15 because the faulty pipe has been fixed. Yes, sending JoJo tanks is a temporary solution because even those people who go to work must come home to water coming out of their taps. Now that it is the festive season and children are home for the holidays, I also plead with parents to please encourage their children not to play with the water because it is a very scarce resource,” Lakaje-Mosia said when addressing the crowd.
In his address to the community Makume apologized to the people for all the poor service delivery issues that this community is facing.
“It is human to error but as I have been an MEC since April I’d like to sincerely apologize for all the mistakes that those before me have made and I promise to do my best to make things right. I urge the people of Maluti – A – Phofung to unite because it sounds like everyone who addressed us has the same problem,” Makume said.
