THE villagers have no reason to rejoice at the announcement of the upgrade and renovation of their roads.
This is because the villagers of Mashishimale, Maseke and Majeje outside Phalaborwa in Limpopo have lost hope of employment as the same people seem to be hired on almost all municipal projects while those with the same skills remain idle at home.
This comes after Ba-Phalaborwa Mayor Merriam Malatji on Friday, 17 November, unveiled contractors for the upgrading and rehabilitation of roads in the villages.
The contractors will upgrade road D3786 in Mashishimale and rehabilitate roads D4424 from Matiko Xikaya to Lulekani and D3786 from Maseke to Mashishimale, which connect to the R71 road. The roads will be 40 kilometres long.
The villagers complain that they are always overlooked when municipal projects come to their villages.
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Villager Lordwick Baloyo (30) said: "The same people are always hired, even though we have the same skills as them. We don’t know if they were recruited through connections."
Others said they were fed up with workers being hired through the back door.
Another villager, Queen Nkuna (36), said: "The process of hiring workers must be transparent for everyone because we all need jobs. You can’t have the same people working on every project. You need to give others a chance to put food on the table."
They said they recognise that the construction work will give them access to better roads, but it's not good enough if not everyone benefits from the construction.
They have vowed to stop the projects if they suspect that something has gone wrong in the award of contracts.
Contractors are expected to start construction work soon.
After listening to the residents' concerns, Malatji assured the villagers and businesspeople that there will be fair and transparent recruitment processes for the upcoming road construction projects.
“The municipality will work closely with traditional leaders, business forums and unemployment forums to ensure that all residents have equal opportunities in these projects," she said.
