Emalahleni Local Municipality

Rolls-out community based projects

In 2020 Council took a decision to have a food bank and engaged businesses and individuals to support the initiative. It was led by Councillors and the Executive Management who made personal contributions to the fund.

Last month food vouchers with a value of R1 000 each were distributed to 255 beneficiaries, 15 of whom were selected in the 17 wards of Emalahleni.

The purpose of this initiative was to provide relief to distressed households. “We understand that this is not enough, but it is the little that we can do while we are busy creating opportunities for sustainable local economic development initiatives”, said Cllr Nontombizanele Koni.

The same evening Councillor Koni, members of the Executive Committee, Councillors and the municipal management switched on solar streetlights in Indwe, Dordrecht and Cacadu.

In total 172 solar streetlights were installed in the three towns in an effort to enhance safety and security for its citizens, and in the process created job opportunities for 45 people during the installations.

“In regard to service delivery, we are doing our best to give quality services to the people of Emalahleni in response to their needs, as documented on the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), a document developed in consultation with the community. Today we are handing over solar streetlights in our three towns, paving projects are finished and in other areas they are in progress, places like Ward 12 (Mkhaphusi) leading to Ward 13. Our aim is to ensure that we do our level best with the little that we have, as we are a small rural municipality with a lot of potential on service delivery”, said Cllr. Nontombizanele Koni.

The municipality supported a number of local economic development projects in the month of August. One of the projects saw nine women running a recycling cooperative being handed a baling machine by Cllr.Koni. Mrs Nomazulu Mtwa, Chairperson of Cacadu recycling cooperatives, receiving the support on behalf of the recyclers said, “We worked without a machine and the municipality assisted us so that we could bale our stuff and have a good market. With the baling machine we will be able to make more money and we feel this will help Cacadu women prosper.” Ward 4 Cllr. Nomzi Tyhulu said,” In this recycling project there are more women and that makes me happy as mothers always try to put food on the table at home.”

Mrs Nosango Dyani of Phambili Co-op on brickmaking at Indwe, when receiving support in the form of wheel barrows, spades, water drums, masks, gloves, water pipes and other items said, “We are very thankful, as women of Indwe, for this gesture of goodwill by Emalahleni Local Municipality. We have created jobs for the youth in the area and we pay them daily to ensure that they are able to buy food. We know some of them were involved in criminal activities, but now that they are working, they work hard here and get back home with no energy to go out and torment the people. Our children are at tertiary institutions, and most of them are already working as professionals due to our commitment and dedication to this brickmaking business. We have supplied big construction in the past in areas like Cacadu, Cala, Willowvale, and even here in Indwe houses are built with our bricks.”

Part of the rollout of projects in Emalahleni Local Municipality was the handover and site inspection of two shearing sheds constructed by Sibanye Stillwater, a mining company. The beneficiaries were Mount Arthur (Ward 12) and Tsawulayo (Ward 10). The shearing sheds provided adequate facilities for the communal farmers who had been shearing in sheds they had built themselves, which did not meet requirements for proper operations of wool production.

The areas excel in wool production and according to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), the municipal area has about 500 000 sheep, and farmers earned approximately R33 000 000 in wool production in the 2019/2020 financial year. The construction of these two sheds by Sibanye Stillwater will further enhance wool production in these villages, along with the involvement of the National Wool Growers Association, as the service provider, assisting with the construction, necessary equipment, training of the communal farmers on shearing, as well as the improvement of their wool quality with the provision of ram.

The construction will commence at the beginning of October 2021 with the employment of four people at each shearing shed.

Sibanye Stillwater as part of their corporate social responsibility supports Emalahleni Local Municipality, that has been one of the labour sending areas in the mines, in the past, and at the present time.

“We are very pleased to have employees who know that we cannot sit and wait to be given the equitable share and other monies by the National Treasurer and other sources of revenue to further engage the private sector on our own. We are here today, grateful to Sibanye Stillwater for responding to our request on behalf of the community. This is not a promise but the fulfilment of the wishes of our people. We are looking forward to the quality of work to be provided here with the support of the National Wool Growers Association. We appreciate what Sibanye Stillwater has done to remember that our forefathers and fathers were working tirelessly on the mines and now they are back home with nothing to offer to their families”, said Koni.