“This is just how it is,” says municipality about trenches

Date: 19 March 2021 By: Denise van Bergen

When one drives through the residential areas of town and observes the destruction of once-beautiful gardens - something this community takes so much pride in – one can understand why so much hostility is directed at the high-speed Internet fibre-optic project in Louis Trichardt.

The start of the project, approved by the Makhado Municipality last year, saw infrastructure being damaged daily. Residents were constantly left without water and electricity and gardens were turned upside down, while residents – at first - watched in horrified fascination.

Just when everyone thought the worst was over, however, the digging started again. Residents now look on with boiling anger while new contractors carelessly ruin their recently resettled gardens in the process of laying yet more fibre-optic cables.

The Zoutpansberger has had numerous conversations over these past few months with each fibre company, who diligently tried to assure and keep residents up to date as they went along, with extensive explanations regarding the technical process at hand.

This, however, still did not prepare the community for the ongoing disruption that the process would cause. As the municipality claimed responsibility for this project, we directed a few questions about it to the municipal spokesperson, Mr Louis Bobodi, who laid it out plainly.

“There are a number of network companies who will be installing telecommunication and Internet services in Louis Trichardt,” said Bobodi while confirming that residents can expect multiple trenches. “Each company will be offering its unique services, which is not necessarily the same as others. Therefore, each company has to lay their fibre cables in almost all the streets, and that is why some streets will have more than one trench,” he said.

On residents’ dissatisfaction about the standard of work conducted by some contractors, Bobodi said that each resident bore the responsibility to direct their complaint to the municipality, so that the concerned company can be reprimanded. “Each company is expected to leave the area where work had been done as it was found, or in a better state. If any site is left damaged or in a worse state than it was before, it must be brought to the attention of the municipality as soon as possible.”

Grievances can be directed to Mr Shumani Mundalamo at Tel 015 519 3164 or 083 677 6340.

The municipality was also asked why the community had never been let in on the decision to authorise this project. Bobodi replied: “The companies submitted their applications (to install high-speed Internet), after which permission and approval were granted by the municipality. However, we acknowledge oversight on taking the public on board.”

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Denise van Bergen

Denise van Bergen joined the Zoutpansberger/Limpopo Mirror in November 2020. She has previous experience as a journalist working for Die Pos in Modimolle.

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