AGANANG: Despondent residents of communities belonging to the Aganang municipality in Limpopo stayed mum when a decision was made to disestablish the municipality, believing it made no difference to their desperate reality.
Communities visited by Independent Media had little to no development despite their presence pre-dating some of the new settlements where government services have been channelled with haste.
Residents of Prospect, a village which will fall under Blouberg Municipality after the local government elections, said they knew better than most what it’s like to watch as others just a stone's throw away got connected to services they could only dream of.
They will now have to travel more than 50km to have direct contact with their new municipality in Bochum, while the neighbouring Juno municipality was absorbed into Polokwane, which is closer and more easily accessible.
Prospect residents decried the thought of having to first take a taxi to Polokwane, then from there make their way to Bochum.
They watched with keen interest as Vuwani erupted, they said, wondering if they had missed the memo on how to make politicians listen.
“We’ve accepted that there is no politician who will ever listen to our cries. We elect them year after year, and will keep voting because clearly they can do some things for communities, but it’s just not meant for us,” said resident Phidas Legodi.
The father-of-five, who feeds his family by making bricks for his neighbours, pointed to a dry tap, the firewood in his backyard and solar lamps as evidence that no matter how much noise they made, it made no difference.
Legodi explained that he, just like his neighbours who have to walk to nearby homes to beg for water with drums in hand, had accepted that there were services meant for some and not others.
But, in an almost forlorn resignation, he declared: “But I will not stop voting for the ANC, they’ve done well for the people in towns.”
Locals explain that politicians have even stopped coming to canvass for their support.
The lull in the village’s dusty streets seemed to testify to the people’s feeling that they were simply not important enough, while elsewhere in the province the vibrance of campaign season was unmissable.
Not a a single political party poster could be seen clinging to poles in the village.
Less than 5km away in Juno, Idah Mochoeneng and her husband China have decided to turn to the DA.
They too said it was easier to simply accept their fate and forget about the realisation of their basic human rights such as access to clean drinking water.
They could also not be bothered that after the elections, their new municipality would be Polokwane.
“They (politicians) are all the same, once they get into office, they only care about themselves. So that’s why we thought if we change parties and join the DA, things will be better,” Idah said.
However, she is only one of a few other DA supporters in a village where the people still vouched for the ANC due to its connection to “Mokgalabjwe”, as they affectionately refer to Nelson Mandela.
In these parts, traditional loyalties still trump so-called issue-based service delivery politics. But only just.
Phuthi Marutle, 73, has found himself torn between loyalty to the ANC and exploring a new option.
“This young man Malema also wants to be an important person, and my experience tells me he’s much better, but the old man (Mandela) took away the pass,” he said.
The challenge for opposition politicians, even popular ones such as Malema, is that straight forward.