Mahikeng residents woke to a government hard at work this week, with municipal workers dispatched all over town cutting grass and filling the gaping potholes that are a common feature in the North West capital.
Some residents must have thought things had finally changed for the better — only to find that the town was being cleaned up to prepare for a visit by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who held his first imbizo in the troubled province yesterday since he became president.
The province was placed under administration in 2018 after governance system failures led to social and labour unrest. Three years later, several municipalities are still collapsing as a result of parallel government structures and a lack of service delivery.
The Sunday Times team spoke to workers it encountered as it entered the small town. Along the N4, one of the men cutting the verges said he worked for a construction company called Rainbow, which was contracted by national roads agency Sanral.
“It’s obvious that what we are doing is for the president. It’s to make sure that the roads and the town are clean for him. Come back in three days’ time, the situation will be different. People will complain about unemployment again,” said the man, who asked not to be named for fear of losing his job.
We are cutting the grass so that the president does not see the overgrown grass
— Municipal worker
About 1km further, a municipal employee wearing blue overalls and goggles was cutting grass along Shippard Street.
The man, who also asked not to be named, said: "We were working by the stadium [where the president addressed communities] and we were told to come and work this side.
“We are cutting the grass so that the president does not see the overgrown grass,” he said. The last time the grass was cut along the main road, he said, was January last year.
On Nelson Mandela Drive, one of the town's main roads, teams of men and women were filling potholes with tar. Some municipal employees denied that they were patching the roads just for Ramaphosa, but community members were not convinced.
A manager of a business located on busy Vryburg Road said the town was a mess before it was announced that Ramaphosa would be visiting. “It’s like having visitors in your own home, you only sweep the area which they see, not under the bed where there are cockroaches,” he said.
The man, heading a business that has been around for 30 years, complained about the lack of service delivery in Mahikeng, saying the place “used to be the pride and joy of Tswana people” .
“The state of this place makes me want to cry.”
He said crime was a big problem and street lights did not work.
Patricia Mjelma, who was born in Mahikeng, said she was concerned about youth unemployment. “Most of them loiter around because there are no jobs and as a result they are stout [naughty], it is very bad,” said the elderly woman, who survives off her monthly government pension.
Taxi driver Tshepiso Bojang, who hails from Letlhakane village in Botswana, said he felt ashamed to call Mahikeng the provincial capital.
“The problem here is the poor infrastructure. The town is very dirty and the municipality does nothing about it, everything is a mess.
“We just saw busy people cutting the grass today, this tells us that they are only doing it for the president, they do not care about the town and the people. People are struggling about everything, there is no water.”
Responding to the communities during yesterday’s imbizo, transport minister Fikile Mbalula said potholes should not be patched only when the president is visiting.
"We are going to speak to the premier to see whether there is money and how with the money that was given to the province, how can we work together to close the potholes in Mafikeng.
"They cannot only be fixed when the President is in town and then when he leaves, you don't care. The closing of potholes is something that can generate job creation because they always need to be repaired."
North West premier Bushy Maape on Friday denied that the town was spruced up to impress Ramaphosa. “This has nothing to do with the president. We launched this programme and started patching potholes a long time ago,” he said.
Maape’s denial was disputed by DA MPL Freddy Sonakile, who said: “If you come to Mahikeng on an ordinary day without any high-profile person visiting, you would never say that this is a capital city. It is always filthy and people are always complaining about their cars being damaged by potholes.”
Sonakile said he was shocked to see potholes being fixed on Monday. “It’s been a very busy town and the houses for MPLs never have water, but this week we had water. There are police patrolling at every street corner and that is a luxury for the people of Mahikeng.
“If you take a look at the places where the potholes are being fixed, you can tell that those are the routes that the president will be using from town all the way to the place where he will be addressing [the community],” said Sonakile.
Ramaphosa was accompanied by Maape and several of his ministers.
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