As a result of the fact that the provincial executive committee (PEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) has recalled five of the mayors in Limpopo, Ms Mavhungu Luruli was appointed the mayor of Makhado Municipality with effect from December 1.

Speaking to Mirror in an exclusive interview on Tuesday, Mayor Luruli promised that a lot of things were going to change in terms of service delivery to Louis Trichardt and the surrounding villages which the municipality serves.

“People must expect a lot of changes as my first move will be speeding up service delivery. I have already included a lot of things which I will reveal during my first State-of-the-Municipality address in January when we will be making our budget adjustment.”

Asked if there were changes in the executive council of the Municipality, Luruli indicated that there won’t be changes in terms of councillors. “It is only I and the chief whip, Cllr Slovo Rikhotso, in the executive. I want to check first and observe the pace that we are currently at,” Luruli highlighted. She added that she was ready to serve the people and that people should not worry as the municipality was in the right hands.

Speaking to Mirror this week concerning the issue of the newly appointed mayor, the spokesman for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Louis Trichardt, Cllr Brian du Plooy, said that the appointment of Luruli promised a huge improvement. “We hope that she will succeed, as no other mayor has ever finished their full term in the office in the Makhado Municipality before,” he said.

Emphasising the shortcomings in service delivery in Louis Trichardt, he added that the DA in Louis Trichardt wished Luruli a lot of luck and hoped that she could turn the municipality around,

It was also revealed that the former mayor, Glory Mashaba, was appointed the director of corporate services at the Greater Letaba Municipality of the Mopani District.