The two extremes of Venda and Malamulele.
Apart from water problems villagers in Venda are happy
THE first traffic lights into Thohoyandou start at Tshisaulu village, about 5km from Vhembe district and Thulamela municipality's administrative capital.
This is where the R524 road connecting Kruger National Park and Louis Trichardt stretches into meticulously tarred quadruple lanes that help ease traffic around Venda's economic hub, Thohoyandou.
Even at night, some residential areas closer to Thohoyandou like Shayandima, Maniini, Makwarela, blocks F and G remain in the light due to street lights.
According to Maniini resident Rudzani Netshandama, these are some of the things that make him proud of the Thulamela municipality, whose headquarters lie somewhere in the ever overcrowded town.
"There is nothing to strike for when you live around Thohoyandou. All the services are there.
"We have electricity and water in our houses. We have a clinic plus two hospitals and another one for the mentally disabled," he said.
Netshandama was referring to Tshilidzini Hospital, which also has a nursing college next door, and Donald Fraser Hospital and Hayani Mental Hospital. All three hospitals are less than 30km apart.
"We choose between shopping centres like Phangami Mall, Mvusuludzo Mall, Venda Plaza and Sibasa shopping complex," he said, adding that the town will soon have a R900m Thavhani Mall. It will be the biggest in the Vhembe region and will be located next to the newly revamped Thohoyandou Stadium.
Netshandama boasts about not having to go far for tertiary education as there is the University of Venda and the Vhembe TVET College (which has four campuses).
Makwarela, a township in Sibasa - 5km from Thohoyandou - boasts a government office complex that houses most regional government departments like home affairs, Sassa, agriculture, education and others.
However, Venda king Toni Mphephu Ramabulana's adviser, Jackson Mafunwaini, said most of the infrastructure under Thulamela municipality were built by the former Venda bantustan government.
Mafunwaini, who was the Republic of Venda's deputy director-general from 1979 to 1994, said that the Venda government has build roads, colleges, the university, a hotel and most buildings in town. "Even the Thulamela headquarters were built by the Venda government," he said.
Nyadzeni Makhado, civic leader at Budeli village - about 15km from Thohoyandou and next to Nandoni Dam - said apart from water allocation problems in the village, service delivery in other spheres of life was not that bad.
Politicians, Malamulele and 'unfulfilled promises'
IN 2010, then head of the parliamentary rural development portfolio committee Stone Sizani, who is now ANC chief whip, visited Malamulele.
Residents complained that they were seeing development happening elsewhere but not in their area. Sizani promised to come back with a report from parliament after the World Cup but he was redeployed and never set foot in Malamulele.
Last month, the long-standing dissatisfaction of residents turned into open rebellion when they announced an indefinite shutdown of the town. Schools, government offices and businesses have not operated for over a month now.
Malamulele's troubles can be traced back to when the town's municipality was merged to form Levubu-Shingwedzi shortly after the 1994 elections. But when transitional local councils were replaced by fully fledged municipalities, this one was replaced by Thulamela municipality.
This was a surprise because submissions by the ANC at the time had Vhembe district having four municipalities - Makhado, Musina, Mutale and Thulamela. Malamulele was one of four districts of the former Gazankulu homeland.
According to the National Census of 2011, 225983 people live in the area that has more than 100 human settlements. It was not possible to get employment figures but most work in urban areas as they claim they cannot get jobs at either the Thulamela local municipality or Vhembe municipality.
The residents of Malamulele claim that the Thulamela municipality - whose headquarters are in Thohoyandou - discriminates against them because there is no noticeable development in their area. Local resident Mafemani Baloyi said there are three FET colleges in the Vhembe district but none in Malamulele.
Residents claim there is no water in most of Malamulele's 100 villages despite the fact that the R2,6-billion Nandoni Dam is on their doorstep.
They also claim that there are 16 divisional managers at the municipality and none is from Malamulele - a fact which seems to have fuelled residents' anger. At the Vhembe district municipality, the only senior manager from Malamulele is Mihloti Masuluke.
Premier Stan Mathabatha and President Jacob Zuma were also presented with a case for a new municipality by the community and both allegedly commented that the community had a strong case. Both police stations in Malamulele - Malamulele and Saselamani - are led by people from the formerly Greater Thohoyandou.
By Benson Ntlemo
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Tale of two towns
The two extremes of Venda and Malamulele.
Apart from water problems villagers in Venda are happy
THE first traffic lights into Thohoyandou start at Tshisaulu village, about 5km from Vhembe district and Thulamela municipality's administrative capital.
This is where the R524 road connecting Kruger National Park and Louis Trichardt stretches into meticulously tarred quadruple lanes that help ease traffic around Venda's economic hub, Thohoyandou.
Even at night, some residential areas closer to Thohoyandou like Shayandima, Maniini, Makwarela, blocks F and G remain in the light due to street lights.
According to Maniini resident Rudzani Netshandama, these are some of the things that make him proud of the Thulamela municipality, whose headquarters lie somewhere in the ever overcrowded town.
"There is nothing to strike for when you live around Thohoyandou. All the services are there.
"We have electricity and water in our houses. We have a clinic plus two hospitals and another one for the mentally disabled," he said.
Netshandama was referring to Tshilidzini Hospital, which also has a nursing college next door, and Donald Fraser Hospital and Hayani Mental Hospital. All three hospitals are less than 30km apart.
"We choose between shopping centres like Phangami Mall, Mvusuludzo Mall, Venda Plaza and Sibasa shopping complex," he said, adding that the town will soon have a R900m Thavhani Mall. It will be the biggest in the Vhembe region and will be located next to the newly revamped Thohoyandou Stadium.
Netshandama boasts about not having to go far for tertiary education as there is the University of Venda and the Vhembe TVET College (which has four campuses).
Makwarela, a township in Sibasa - 5km from Thohoyandou - boasts a government office complex that houses most regional government departments like home affairs, Sassa, agriculture, education and others.
However, Venda king Toni Mphephu Ramabulana's adviser, Jackson Mafunwaini, said most of the infrastructure under Thulamela municipality were built by the former Venda bantustan government.
Mafunwaini, who was the Republic of Venda's deputy director-general from 1979 to 1994, said that the Venda government has build roads, colleges, the university, a hotel and most buildings in town. "Even the Thulamela headquarters were built by the Venda government," he said.
Nyadzeni Makhado, civic leader at Budeli village - about 15km from Thohoyandou and next to Nandoni Dam - said apart from water allocation problems in the village, service delivery in other spheres of life was not that bad.
Politicians, Malamulele and 'unfulfilled promises'
IN 2010, then head of the parliamentary rural development portfolio committee Stone Sizani, who is now ANC chief whip, visited Malamulele.
Residents complained that they were seeing development happening elsewhere but not in their area. Sizani promised to come back with a report from parliament after the World Cup but he was redeployed and never set foot in Malamulele.
Last month, the long-standing dissatisfaction of residents turned into open rebellion when they announced an indefinite shutdown of the town. Schools, government offices and businesses have not operated for over a month now.
Malamulele's troubles can be traced back to when the town's municipality was merged to form Levubu-Shingwedzi shortly after the 1994 elections. But when transitional local councils were replaced by fully fledged municipalities, this one was replaced by Thulamela municipality.
This was a surprise because submissions by the ANC at the time had Vhembe district having four municipalities - Makhado, Musina, Mutale and Thulamela. Malamulele was one of four districts of the former Gazankulu homeland.
According to the National Census of 2011, 225983 people live in the area that has more than 100 human settlements. It was not possible to get employment figures but most work in urban areas as they claim they cannot get jobs at either the Thulamela local municipality or Vhembe municipality.
The residents of Malamulele claim that the Thulamela municipality - whose headquarters are in Thohoyandou - discriminates against them because there is no noticeable development in their area. Local resident Mafemani Baloyi said there are three FET colleges in the Vhembe district but none in Malamulele.
Residents claim there is no water in most of Malamulele's 100 villages despite the fact that the R2,6-billion Nandoni Dam is on their doorstep.
They also claim that there are 16 divisional managers at the municipality and none is from Malamulele - a fact which seems to have fuelled residents' anger. At the Vhembe district municipality, the only senior manager from Malamulele is Mihloti Masuluke.
Premier Stan Mathabatha and President Jacob Zuma were also presented with a case for a new municipality by the community and both allegedly commented that the community had a strong case. Both police stations in Malamulele - Malamulele and Saselamani - are led by people from the formerly Greater Thohoyandou.
By Benson Ntlemo
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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