By OBAKENG MAJE
North West Premier, Bushy Maape and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Deputy Minister, Obed Bapela including government officials were held ‘hostage’ by angry community members at Lotlamoreng Dam in Mahikeng on Tuesday.
The community members went berserk and barricaded the entrance of the iconic dam with stones and debris as they demand answers from government officials regarding the beneficiaries of the multi-million development project at the dam.
It is alleged that the government has spent over R80 million to revamp the area to become one of the best tourism sites in the province.
The community leader, Simphiwe Yuze said: “We are not happy about how the North West Provincial government is treating us. How can so many tenders be awarded to outsiders? We tried to have consultative engagements with our government officials, but our plea fell on deaf ears.
“We do not benefit as locals from all these projects and that must come to an end. We have capable contractors who can do the job better than these companies benefitting here. Now, we have Letlamoreng Dam project, but we do not get answers on who will be benefitting from it after its completion.”
Yuze alleged the provincial government has appointed a Limpopo-based company, G-Fencing to do maintenance at Letlamoreng Dam after its completion.
“These people do not have our interest at heart as locals. They are only here for money and we want all these projects including the buildings to be owned by our locals. We do not want to come across any situation where we will see them being sold without our knowledge in the future.
“We know there are many things in the pipeline, but we are repudiating with the government on awarding tenders to outsiders, while we are left behind. We will be engaging with all other stakeholders on Wednesday at 12pm to get answers,” he said.
Bapela who embarked on a three-day visit to Ngaka Modiri Molema District in his capacity as the District Development Model (DDM), said issues raised by community members were genuine.
“These might be genuine grievances that are there and we do not undermine them at all. But stopping and blocking the government to come and develop your area is not one of them. We urge our communities to talk to young people because we all want developments, but if there are some challenges we will listen and resolve them.
“This is the only area where we thought we could conclude today’s trip, but tomorrow the program still continues. Where people are receptive and able to allow development to happen, it will happen,” he said.
Bapela further said they agree that tenders should be awarded to locals if they meet the criteria. He added that if the tender is awarded to outsider, the beneficiary must localise it and work with locals by creating job opportunities and hire local sub-contractors.
“We were not allowed to enter the building, so we could not provide answers as they denied us access. Letlamoreng Dam is a big project that could create job opportunities for locals. 79% of young people are unemployed and we understand that our people are desperate if they do not get job opportunities in their own backyards.
Maape refused to comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, Letlamoreng Dam project is expected to be completed on November 2021.
The Guardian 