Public Protector's visit brings hope to communities

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Polokwane - The Public Protector's visit to Polokwane has beamed a ray of hope for Moses Mojela, who has been struggling to get answers about the application for his mother's RDP house in Mankweng, just outside Polokwane.

According to Mojela, he applied for the house in 2001 and to date, he has not heard from the municipality.

When enquiring about the house, he was sent from pillar to post. Things got worse when he discovered that the vacant stand where the house was supposed to be built had been allocated to someone else. He suspected that the person was given the land because of political affiliation.

Mojela told BuaNews that when he heard Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela was coming to Polokwane,that raised his hopes that his problem was going to be resolved.

Madonsela visited Polokwane today as part of the campaign, Public Protector Dialogues with the Nation, which was launched in Gauteng last month.

Upon hearing about Mojela's problem, Madonsela immediately undertook to investigate his concern.

"I will look at the problem and recommend remedial action," Madonsela said.

Said an elated Mojela: "The Public Protector is my last hope and I'm confident that my problem will be attended to and be resolved."

While enquiring about when the house would be built, he contacted the municipality and could not get answers. Mojela claims he was being avoided by some municipal officials.

The Executive Mayor of Polokwane, Freddy Greaver, agreed that the Public Protector should look into the matter.

"Once the Public Protector is done with the investigation, we will go public with the findings," he said.

Madonsela also called on the public to check whether her office was doing its work as mandated by the Constitution.

Limpopo is the sixth province to be visited through the 'Public Protector Dialogues with the Nation campaign.