Meloding-Residents of Meloding in the Free State have expressed their gratitude to government for taking a Batho Pele Outreach Imbizo programme to their township in a bid to resolve day-to-day challenges.
On Friday, Public Service and Administration Minister Faith Muthambi led an Imbizo in the town near Welkom under the theme: “Fast Tracking Service Delivery in our Communities.”
Local resident, Isaac Rammereki, who is also a member of the New Dawn Foundation, a structure aimed at empowering local youth said: “On behalf of residents and our Foundation responsible for developing and supporting our youth, we are happy that today we were able to interact with our leaders right at our township, where they also witnessed some of our day-to-day challenges.
“There are a number of issues that they have promised to resolve and this includes the shortage of vehicles at our local police station and they have promised to be back in three months to give us feedback in all the issues we’ve raised. Indeed, we are very grateful to our government…this government is for the people and it is working for its people,” he said.
25-year-old local visual artist, Neo Mohohlo said: “There is a lot of talent in this area and all we need from our government as young people is support, we’ve seen it that without support from our leaders, some young people end up being exposed to criminal activities.
“I have used this Imbizo to showcase my artwork and I hope that now that our leaders aware of the good things that we are doing here, they will give us the necessary support,” said Mohohlo, who had no formal training in art.
The Imbizo started with Minister Muthambi visit to the local Correctional Service facility, Virginia Hospital and Meloding police station.
At the Correctional facility, issues raised included overcrowding, suspension of prison warders and shortage of staff, while at the police station, there is only one police van.
Minister Muthambi said: “ At the Correctional facility, we’ve learnt that the rehabilitation programme can’t go on very well because of overcrowding, there are also staff members who have been on suspension since December last year, meaning that people are working long hours, so we’ve urged the management to expedite the process of those who are still on suspension, of course, we will also elevate all these challenges to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services.
We’ve also discovered that Meloding Police Station is operating like a passenger station because they just register or attended to cases which are only investigated by their colleagues in Welkom. They are faced with serious shortage of vehicles, that when they take vehicles to the government garage to be serviced, they take time to be repaired, all these need to change.
“We are a caring government…a government that is committed to serve its people, hence our public servants, despite all their challenges, understand that theirs is to serve through putting people first,” she said.
The Imbizo coincided with the commemoration of Freedom Month. April 27 commemorates the day in 1994 when the first democratic election was held in South Africa.-SAnews.gov.za
