Sekhukhune This Week

Minister in The Presidency, Dr Essop Pahad, and his entourage’s expedition to Sekhukhune this weekend come at the backdrop of big achievements and huge challenges that still haunt the district.

The ministerial Imbizo to be held in Tshehlwaneng village, Makhuduthamaga, on Saturday, 12 April 2008 will once again afford our people a platform to raise issues – their democratic right to hold government accountable.

The last high-profile Imbizo on our doorstep took place in 2005. President
Thabo Mbeki led that delegation. Naturally, the public raised their concerns
and this weekend is report-back time.

Our political and administration head honchos will outline the progress made in addressing the concerns pointed out back then, challenges they have come across and chart a way forward.

It is of utmost importance to remind ourselves that Sekhukhune is a Presidential nodal point. Service delivery backlogs are immense and they cannot be addressed overnight.

Looking at the statistics of service delivery statistics and unemployment, one suddenly realises we have a monster of a problem on our doorstep.

The total population of Greater Sekhukhune is a little over one-million, and the district’s settlement pattern is largely rural with about 500 scattered villages around the main economic centres of Groblersdal, Burgersfort, Steelpoort and Marble Hall.

Twenty-three percent (23%) of the population does not have formal education, while those with primary and secondary education are 23 % and 22 % respectively.

Now let’s look at the most daunting statistics – only 1% percent of the population has tertiary education and the unemployment level stands at
69,1%.

Even more daunting – water supply backlog is 46 %, sanitation 80 % and electricity 60 %.

These statistics tell us we are going to grapple and wrestle with these problems for a number years to come.

Now let’s zoom in on the positive side of things.

All five municipalities in the district – Marble Hall, Elias Motsoaledi, Fetakgomo, Makhuduthamaga and Tubatse – have provided free basic water to 53 % of the population since 2005.

Elias Motsoaledi alone has recorded a 252 % increase of residents receiving this basic service over a five-year period!

The current backlog of electricity is 63 000 households, but in 2004/05 financial year 9714 new connections were done, in 2007/08 608 new connections were from a R3, 8-million budget. There are 3 940 connections planned for the 2008/09 financial year from a budget of R30, 9-million.

The district has also budgeted R70-million to make 15 642 connections for the current financial year. Eskom is however still busy verifying network capacity
on areas that were identified.

In terms of economic growth, mining has shown drastic growth over the years. Agriculture is still the major employer, while tourism is emerging as the future growth opportunity.

It is definitely not all doom and gloom. Strides are being made to improve the lives of people in the district. We have no reason to be engulfed in pessimism.