Pretoria - A task team is to be established in Dipaleseng Local Municipality in Mpumalanga to look at challenges faced by the community and continuously monitor progress made.
This decision was taken after a delegation including Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sicelo Shiceka visited the area on Thursday following the recent service delivery protests in Balfour.
The team will immediately convene all national and provincial departments affected by the issues raised by the community.
Minister Shiceka has given the team, which comprises of government officials and community leaders, two months to report back.
He stressed that government will be paying special attention to all those involved in corruption as this was largely to blame for lack of service delivery.
"We will make sure that we do not fail the people of Dipaleseng. Officials who are not prepared to work for the people must change their attitudes or they must ship out.
"We will remove all obstacles that seek to hinder our progress on turning around this municipality. There must be no shifting of goal posts" said Shiceka.
Government has condemned the acts of violence, intimidation, destruction of property, criminality and the attack on foreign nationals that have accompanied the unrests in Balfour, urging police to act against the perpetrators.
Shiceka will continuously visit the area to interact with the community and give them feedback on the progress being made in dealing with the issues that they have raised.
