Will Tubatse ever grow up..?

I watch with sadness and dissarpointment at the latest developments coming out of Tubatse as a whole and i ask myself, will this area ever see growth and stability? When i say growth and stability, i mean growth and stability in all spheres; Economic, Socially, recreationally, etc. To a layman out there who doesn’t have a clue about this area called Tubatse, allow me to mesmerize you atleast.

Tubatse is an area situated in the eastern limb bushveld of the Drackensburg Mountains. I don’t know the origin of the name, but this area here boorst a gorgeous weather, natural resources to die for and a wonderful majesty nature reserves. The is approximately twenty (20) mines actively pursuing the depth of its soil, a wide spread of productive agricultural prescint sprawling on a vast amount of land, a land that is fresh and rich.

The municipality is called Greater Tubatse/Fetakgomo Local municipality, this came after the mergers of two municipalities namely, Greater Tubatse and Fetakgomo local municipalities. This municipality forms part of the Sekhukhune District also known as “Sekhukhune Land”. The merger happened immediately after the August 3 local government elections. Its sitting is in one of the fastest growing town Burgersfort. This town is the economic hub of Tubatse, of course we have another town Steelpoort about 20 kilometres from Burgersfort. Steelpoort is a small, mostly industrial town. It is mostly infested with warehouses, engineering workshops, a handful of restaurants, Supermarkets, liquor stores housed in a recently developed complex. All this is coupled with the mine’s residential complexes for most of their senior employees. But Burgersfort, oh boy, this town is the ultimate shopping centre of the rich and poor. The town has shown growth and potential future expansion. Currently Burgersfort has a state of the art Mall, Tubatse crossing, not far from it is another small beautifully encrafted mall, Burgersfort mall and several complexes with the potential to grow further. The is a total of 31 wards in Greater Tubatse/Fetakgomo Local Municipality, mostly under the African National Congress (ANC) Government.

This is where the state of better life ends, in Burgersfort. It is as if this is the only area that deserves attention when it comes to provision of infrastructure and other services. The state of Tubatse outside Burgersfort is disappointing, saddening, unstable and poor. No doubt, Tubatse is mostly rural, with villages under tribal authorities. However it doesn’t provide the powers that be to neglect it in this way. If one visits almost all the villages, you see the level of services provided is so disgraceful and leaves one with tears. Recently, an electrical contractor, who was suppose to electrify the remaining households downed tools and disappeared with municipal money leaving villages high and dry. The municipality was not aware, which shows the level of ineptitude in the municipality. They were surprised that the contractor they appointed and paraded infron’t of communities vanished without completing the project and with their money.

“As a municipality we were not aware that the contractor left without completing the project. We have already paid the contractor money to electrify the remaining villages, but now we are saddened to learn of his disappearance with council money. We will investigate and come back to report to the affected communities” was all Thabiso Mokoena, spokesperson of Greater Tubatse/Fetakgomo local Municipality could say when confronted with the situation.

“This has squashed all our hopes to celebrate Christmas season with some electricity in my house” said disappointed community member.

Tubatse is the richest most productive area when it comes to mineral deposits. The amount of precious stones embedded beneath the soils of Tubatse leaves me speechless. Yet communities above this deposits leave in squalor. You would assume with the hive of developmental activities happening, the fast pace with which minerals are extracted beneath, communities around them will be envied by far away communities but the opposite is actually the reality.

 The is approximately Twenty (20) fully fledged operating mines, daily extracting precious stones beneath but villages are a complete opposite shadow of this action.

 The is little to no contribution that this mines are doing towards making some of this villages better looking. Roads are in shambles, houses are falling apart, no lights, no water, no recreational facilities even a mere library or community hall is zilch. Big bosses of some of this mines pass by some of this villages when commuting to town and their residences on a daily basis, it’s not like they don’t see some of this challenges but none of them ever entertain the needs or lack of this villages. The only time you will get to meet them is when the youth have barricaded these roads, making delivery of goods, workers ‘busses and transportation of their commodities difficult to pass. They come pretend to listen, throw in a bit of bribe just to warde them off, then vanish leaving empty promises.

The situation in Tubatse is so dire and the consequences of such are catastrophic. Tubatse as a whole exist in contrast to what should have been better. With so much economic activity, communities shouldn’t be struggling, it is so sad and disappointing to live in an area so mega rich and blessed with natural resources, only for it’s suppose beneficiaries not to repeat the fruits. Who to blame when situation is like this, to who must the community go and shed a tear? When its government is the one failing them. Will Tubatse repeat the fruits of its God given natural resources? Will Tubatse ever grow..? Maybe with time, Only time will tell...