South Africans must vote
President Cyril Ramaphosa wrapped up the proceedings of the District Development Model (DDM) Presidential Imbizo by encouraging residents to exercise their rights and vote on Wednesday, 29 May when the National and Provincial Elections will be held.
The Imbizo was recently held at Emalahleni, Mpumalanga.
“The 29th is an important day that you, as South Africans, must come out in your numbers to go and vote. Who you vote for, is up to you. Your heart will tell you who to vote for…go and vote for that party that you feel can make the lives of South Africans better,” President Ramaphosa said.
He added that the lives of South Africans have become better over the past 30 years of democracy and government would continue to make further improvements.
The Imbizo was an opportunity for the President and other leaders in government to assess progress made, and to be briefed on challenges associated with the improvement of service delivery since the President visited the province in May 2022.
“The lives of our people are better. But our work is not done. We are going to continue in order to make sure that the lives of our people get even better in all ways. Whether it be resolving unemployment challenges, we will raise employment. If it is the challenge of load-shedding, we will end it,” he said.
Leave no one behind
Themed: "Leave No One Behind,” the imbizo promotes participatory democracy and inclusive development by allowing community members and stakeholders to voice proposals and express any concerns or dissatisfaction they have about conditions in the district or province.
Some community members told SAnews that they have been waiting for this day to come to interact directly with the President and his Cabinet.
“We want the President to hear our problems and concerns directly from us… We want to have access to clean water. We have been having problems with the provision of water and that the state of our roads is bad. We want government to supply us with clean water and proper roads,” said Japhter Maseko from Emalahleni.
Nkululeko Skhosana from Malelane said government must urgently attend to their concerns.
“Our lives are miserable without proper services. Water is our main concern. We sometimes go for days without water. In some instances, we are forced to buy water from the shops to survive,” said Skhosana.
Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu assured community members that his department was working on ensuring that residents have access to water.
“The municipality here has a deficit of about 30 megalitres which means that there is a shortage of 30 megalitres per day. The municipality has applied for a licence to get water so that we can close this shortage. That licence has been approved which means that they will be able to get water which will help to alleviate the challenge,” Minister Mchunu explained.
President Ramaphosa also conducted a site visit and inspected of the newly constructed Middelburg Hospital in Mpumalanga.
“This is most impressive. It’s a modern, state-ofthe-art and it’s going to serve the community of about 330 000 people.
This is development. This is how we are developing our country from a social and health point of view and we’re doing it cost-effectively as well,” the President said.