Ehlanzeni: The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr. Richard Baloyi accompanied by officials from his office came to Ehlanzeni District Municipality on Monday the 20th February 2012. On his expedition he was joined by Mpumalanga Cogta MEC Madala Masuku and the Executive Mayor of Ehlanzeni District Municipality Cllr. Letta Shongwe who was also leading the Executive Mayors of both Mbombela and Bushbuckridgelocal municipalities.  

Minister Baloyi was led to visit the disaster stricken areas at Makoko trust  in Mbombela,  and  at Mloro  trust  in Bushbuckridge Local Municipalities.   Numerous  infrastructure including bridges were seen. A washed away bridge in Mbombela (Makoko trust) and in Bushbuckridge (Mloro trust), were hard hit by heavy floods. A house in Hlamalani was also visited and construction is underway.

 “We must not spend or do things as if now that Mpumalanga has been stricken by a disaster, then it means that it will never hit again anytime soon,  and at  the same time,  we must not be subjected to a situation where we will do a shoddy job in fixing the current damages because we are waiting for the next storm” said Minister Baloyi. In two weeks time the minister will dispatch a team of professional and skilled service providers to do a professional evaluation and costing of all damages caused by the recent storms.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Madala Masuku said that, “The short term fixes are complete now and kids are now able to go to schools, and communities in various are able to connect to the main roads as normal”. He also mentioned that areas that needed to be re- gravelled are done already, but major infrastructure projects like bridges and houses remain to be completed in due course.

The Minister thanked Mpumalanga MEC Madala Masuku & EDM Executilve Mayor Cllr. Letta Shongwe for having such a responsive disaster management team that responded urgently to the victims of the disasters. He also pleaded to the affected communities to be patient as government work should be completed within the next ten months.