28 Mar 2021

Kgosi Dick Moring of Patayamatebele has decried the poor network coverage in the small North East District village.

Speaking in an interview with BOPA recently, Kgosi Moring, said the network coverage in the village was poor, which negatively impacted on residents, as they could not even call for help in case of emergency.

He noted that even farmers, who constitute the majority of residents, were unable to communicate with their clients, adding that every year, they received empty promises from network providers. 

He said they resorted to climbing trees to get some coverage, adding that they would really appreciate it, if at least one network provider could service the village.

For her part, Assistant Community Development Officer, Ms Lucia Mokotedi spoke of the struggles to connect and contact her family, after being transferred to the village in 2019.

 She said they had written numerous letters to all network providers in the country requesting service, but to no avail.

Patayamatebele also does not have electricity, which they said hindered network providers from providing services, adding that they had since requested the  area Member of Parliament, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe to help.

Mr Mokotedi also said the issue negatively affected her work as she struggled to connect residents with the relevant help they needed, such as calling an ambulance in times of emergencies, as she is the contact person for the village.

Mr Mpho Molema, a horticultural farmer based in the village, also expressed concern about the poor network coverage, which he said negatively affected his business.

He said he was not able to reach his clients, which disadvantaged him. 

Mr Molema said transporting goods or produce was expensive as the road that linked them with Tonota was in a bad condition and needed to be graded.

“We cannot even engage in online marketing as we do not have internet access,” he lamented, adding that they were unable to connect with other farmers to share ideas.ENDS