BARBERTON – One would at first liken the hot verbal exchange between community members and the leadership of the City of Mbombela to a hot verbal exchange, given the temperamental mood of the community members.
The floor had been opened by the executive mayor, Sibongile Makhushe-Mazibuko who is on a 12-day working crusade to ensure that the much avowed backing and negligence of service delivery, is realised in this mining town beginning today, March 9, up until March 2026.
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The approach from the mayor was one of forging a cordial working relationship. The local community whom she’d been inundated with complaints pertaining to service delivery.
She made her intentions clear – that she was there to ensure that service delivery got off to a good start. Under her watch for the entire period, she first opened up the floor for input from the community, although she fore-warned them not to disassociate themselves from being a part and parcel of the City of Mbombela as an entity.
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Up her sleeve, she was to deal with the rescucitation of roads, allocation of stands for housing purposes, issuing of title deeds, fixing roads, water provision, and ensuring there’s job creation for locals. The town should also be a conducive place for economic and job opportunities for all and sundry, among others.
A fair opportunity was given to members of each ward, to voice out their needs and frustrations. Among those were the overriding concerns that as Barberton as a whole, they were overlooked by the municipality for opportunities within their area of abode.
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However, they got an assurance from the executive mayor that between 9 and 20 March, herself, councillors, entire municipal workers would be engaged in turning around the place. Talks continued inside the Town Hall, services had begun being rolled out in and around Emjindini with the much avowed Shongwe Street in Ward 44, already being under reconstruction.
