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One of the affected households at Muledane. Residents want compensation before they are moved.

Angry Muledane residents vow to stop road construction

 

The construction of a tarred road at Muledane was hailed as long overdue, but to certain families it has brought pain as they are to be moved to give way to the new road.

The residents have been waiting for compensation for some time, accusing the Thulamela Municipality of dragging its feet and they are fast losing patience.

Angry residents outside Thohoyandou have vowed to block the construction of the road in their area if the Thulamela Municipality does not accede to their demands. Central to their demands is that all those affected by the construction of the tarred road should be adequately compensated or have their houses rebuilt elsewhere.

On Monday, affected residents under the umbrella of the Muledane Vhatukanani Concerned Group met in the village to chart the way forward.

Group chairperson Mr Aubrey Makwarela said they had more than 70 members who had been affected by the new road who were awaiting the municipality's compensation, but the municipality was only prepared to build houses for three residents.

"We have been in constant talks with the municipality, but when they go back to their offices, they backtrack on everything we have decided on. The construction started in February here and residents were not consulted. We are just seeing machinery busy here, but the municipality has not kept its promise of compensating those affected.”

He added that they were fed up and had decided to block all the construction “until the municipality comes to the table. They undermined our parents for a long time, and we will not allow this to continue".

Thulamela municipality spokesperson Mr Ndwamato Tshiila said the municipality had been in constant negotiations with the community.

"The road in question will benefit all residents and we have ironed out the issue of compensating affected residents, but we are having problems with people who want to be compensated [for] having lost nothing. We have names of those affected but more are being added to the list," he said.

 

News - Date: 28 July 2019

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Aggrieved residents of Muledane who want the municipality to compensate them before it continues with the road project.

 

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Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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