Door to door in Doreng
On 12 September, Mafube First set up an information table and walked door to door through the blocks of Doreng in Ward 7. The report comes from Tumelo Doctor Dhlamini. What the team found is that this community carries a great deal, and that three problems came up in yard after yard.
The first is water. There are taps standing in people's yards that do not work. This is not a place without water. Namahadi in Frankfort sits beside a big river, and at Doreng there is a dam that was built years ago and has never been put to work. Yet a grandmother of 65 and older still walks to the source to fetch water for her household. Residents do not believe that is an accident. The second is the roads. Rainwater has cut furrows and dongas deep enough that cars cannot pass, and when an ambulance is called it cannot get in. Other wards at least see a grader come through to scrape the road. Ward 7 sees nothing. The third is sewage. Drains have burst and sewage runs into people's yards, in a state that no family should be asked to live in. Taken together, these three things say something plain about how the governing party and the Mafube municipality weigh the feelings of the people who live here.
The community told us they are glad to know Mafube First, and that they would be glad of the help. They have been complaining for years and have nothing to show for it. Our answer was honest: Mafube First will keep fighting for this community, everywhere and however we can. But complaints alone have never moved this municipality. On 4 November the people of Ward 7 have to vote for the organisation that will bring the change. Mafube First
