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The government’s desperate attempts to get Vuwani residents to vote have failed.
Protesting residents have not backed down from their demand for the municipal demarcation board to reverse its decision to incorporate them into the Malamulele municipality.
A series of meetings meant to explain what the community stood to lose if it did not vote, has done little to move Vuwani community leaders to consider halting the shutdown that has lasted more than two months.
City Press understands that government officials have promised to begin working to reincorporate Vuwani into the Makhado municipality where they want to belong, but only after the elections.
Community leaders, though, have refused to budge.
“They just want our vote and don’t care about the interests of our people. They want to start the processes to reverse the demarcation decision done afterwards but we simply can’t be part of the establishment of the new entity,” said community leader Nsovo Sambo.
“The governing party’s greatest concern is that opposition and community parties might take the new municipality and they want us to save the day. Our problem is that we can’t trust them on their promises or just stop our struggle over something written on a piece of paper.”
Limpopo provincial government spokesperson Phuti Seloba said it was for Vuwani people’s “own good” to vote.
He denied that the provincial government was more interested in their votes than anything else.
“They should understand that the IEC has got no threshold and that whether three of four people vote for a certain party or councillor, they still win.
“If they are to get back to Makhado, there will be participation of all municipalities in the district and they may find themselves with a problem if those elected into council are opposed to their views,” Seloba explained.
“If they vote and in the end become part of Makhado they will still go there with the very same number of councillors they voted for,” he said.
Protests by Vuwani residents have led to at least 25 schools being torched since early May.
A group of traditional leaders told City Press that negotiations were ongoing and there was still hope that a solution could be reached by Tuesday next week.
Meanwhile, a senior Limpopo government official told City Press that the provincial government was ready to rectify the Vuwani issue.
“They have made all sorts of proposals to Vuwani people making it clear that their issue was resolvable. It is obvious that they are desperate and will do whatever it takes to appease them after elections,” the official said.
“Once the elections are over, a process that may take six to eight months would be initiated wherein the demarcation board will be asked to reverse its decision on Vuwani.
“It is all possible, but the risk is that it may set a wrong precedent nationally and deal a blow on the supposedly independent powers of the demarcation board now finding themselves having to appease everybody instead of making informed decisions.”
Meanwhile, the demarcation board said the establishment of the new municipal entity was to go ahead after failed legal attempts to stop it.
“As far as the board is concerned, the matter has now been laid to rest and the new municipality would accordingly be established,” it said in a statement.
Another meeting between government and Vuwani traditional and community leaders was expected next week. Until any settlement is signed, the Vuwani community said there will be no electioneering in Vuwani and no voting on
August 3.
“The IEC should not bother itself coming here because they have seen that even two rounds of voter registration were in vain. The community’s resolution is that we’re not voting as long as we’re not part of Makhado,” Sambo said.
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