Student’s plea to Zuma to develop village
A PORT Elizabeth College student has made an impassioned plea to President Jacob Zuma to help develop his Ntabankulu Village in Transkei.
Makhosonke Mpongwana has asked the government to install electricity and infrastructure in the village.
The third-year IT student hoped his heartfelt letter would bring the development his village desperately needed.
In the letter, which he tried to hand deliver to Zuma when he was in Port Elizabeth campaign- ing last month, Mpongwana said his dream was to open an internet cafe for the youth in his village. He said the dream “is not only going to benefit me but also my community, especially the youth so that at least when they go to find work, they would have whatever little background of computer knowledge I could give them.
“I feel deeply concerned about our elders. They vote for a better place for them and their children but I feel like our parents will leave this earth without ever knowing how it feels to vote for something and use it.”
Mpongwana could not get to Zuma who was campaigning at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and, instead, gave the letter to Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane who was part of Zuma’s delegation.
In his letter, Mpongwana said the village was always promised at election time that electricity would be installed, but nothing had been done about it.
Mokonyane’s spokesman Thebe Mohatle said he did not know if she knew anything about the letter or if she had forwarded it.
Asked whether there were any plans for electricity or development in the village, the Eastern Cape premier’s spokesman, Mxolisi Spondo, referred the questions to Eskom. The power company’s spokesman Zama Mpondwana said they would only be able to comment today.