Page 24 - DPSA_SDR Vol 12 No.2 2019

CDWP CASE STUDIES

Integration of the Ga-Mankele community into the

Lepelle-Nkumpi Local Municipality

Profile and a DPSA official, Solly Maphori recalled: team collaborated through a community
liaison programme to visit the Ga-
demographics “Segwaigwai was even used to carry Mankele community.
the sick and the dead across the
river. Our situation was very painful; CDWs, led by their supervisor, Joyce
Ga-Mankele village is a landlocked when it rained heavily, we would Nkoabela, was tasked with assessing
pocket between the Lepelle-Nkumpi and remain trapped at the village and each household. The CDWs braved the
the Greater Tubatse local municipalities. there would be no schooling until the rickety-cable car to profile households
Once a part of ward 16 of the Greater river was half-flowing. thoroughly and assess their dire needs.
Tubatse Local Municipality prior to the They discovered that Ga-Mankele is a
2011 local government elections, it is … Even after two residents fell from virgin-territory of service delivery and
now in ward 29 of the Lepelle-Nkumpi Segwaigwai and drowned in 1996 that intervention was needed as a matter
Local Municipality. and 2008, villagers had to continue of urgency.
crossing the river with the makeshift
The community is under the traditional cable car. The bodies of the two They elevated the intervention to the
leadership of the Kgoshi Setlamorago have not yet been found to this day,” Office of the Premier via the office of
Thobejane, with Mr Solly Maphori as he sobbed. the MEC for Cooperative Governance,
the serving local headman of the Ba Human Settlements and Traditional
Bina Tau Ba Mankele. Ga-Mankele is Affairs. The team recognised that the
a traditional settlement similar to the Service delivery doubt surrounding the ward demarcation
rest of Lepelle-Nkumpi, in that 95% of changes had left the community and
it falls under the traditional leadership, intervention and service delivery uncertain. The Mankele
commonly referred to as “Di-Kgoshi”. River also posed a major challenge to
outcome service delivery in Ga-Mankele.
Prior to its incorporation into Lepelle-
Nkumpi, Ga-Mankele was an isolated Ga-Mankele residents had no basic The CDWs therefore recommended that
hinterland settlement made up of healthcare. This meant residents had to bridge construction over the Mankele
74 households with an estimated travel to nearby Penge town to access River be the first form of intervention to
headcount of less than 250 members. primary healthcare and other services. link Ga-Mankele with other communities.
The village had no electricity so villagers CDWs also recommended that a team
Ga-Mankele’s isolation was aggravated had to rely on other forms of energy from the Limpopo provincial Department
by the unavailability of basic services such as open fires. Most houses are still of Health and Social Development
such as clinics for primary health care and mud structures. conduct community profiling to fast track
access to schools for basic education. basic service delivery. This included
These could only be accessed in the Sanitation was also a major challenge rolling out mobile clinics, and access
nearby communities. Access to shops in Ga-Mankele. Households did not to childcare grants and early childhood
and Sassa paypoint services were only have modern pit latrines with ventilation. development centres. The Department
available an estimated 65 kilometres Residents used pit latrines built of mud. of Education was to ensure that a school
away in Burgersfort. There were no However, most residents often resorted (both primary and secondary phases)
roads that directly linked Ga-Mankele to relieving themselves in bushes and was constructed.
with the nearby communities. embraced this pattern as an acceptable
way of life for many years. Households The Office of the Premier organised
The Olifants River (Mankele River) of Ga-Mankele also did not have piped a meeting with key stakeholders to
separates Ga-Mankele from nearby water in their yards. declare a war room for the Ga-Mankele
Penge, a mining ghost town. No bridge village service delivery intervention. The
connects Penge to Ga-Mankele as the The area has very sketchy cellular first intervention was to secure UMSO
two have a bad history. All residents network coverage and very few people Construction to sponsor a bridge, which
of Ga-Mankele therefore had to use in Ga-Mankele own a cellular phone. they built and completed. This means
the rickety cable car, locally known as The few that do own a phone often have that the days of crossing the Mankele
“Segwaigwai”, at a cost of R6 (return) to to find a perfect spot to receive a phone River via the Segwaigwai cable car are
cross over the sometimes roaring and call. over, which brings joy to the residents of
turbulent Mankele River and connect Ga-Mankele.
with the outside communities. A team was gathered that included the
Department of Cooperative Governance, The construction of a modern bridge to
The majority of these vulnerable Human Settlements and Traditional replace the notoriously unsafe makeshift
community members had no fixed Affairs; the Greater Tubatse and Lepelle- cable car was accompanied by a
income or sustainable livelihoods. The Nkumpi local municipalities; and the tarred road. The Limpopo provincial
people of Ga-Mankele lived below the Lepelle-Nkumpi CDW supervisor. This government’s Department of Roads and
poverty threshold. When interviewed by

22 SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 12 No.2 of 2019