Limpopo demarcation protests disrupt health care

Home / Health / Limpopo demarcation protests disrupt health care

Pro-Makhado Demarcation Task Team spokesperson Arnold Mulaudzi said people had been warned ahead of the recent protests. (File photo)

Angry over the Municipal Demarcation Board’s decision to incorporate the Vuwani and Malamulele areas into a newly created municipality led protestors to barricade local roads with stones and burning tyres. Protester barricades prevented children from attending school and patients from reaching local clinic for medicine or medical attention.

The disruption to health service access left 82-year-old Nyawasedza Mulaudzi anxious as she went without her high blood pressure medication for a week after being unable to reach the Thohoyandou Community Health Centre.

“I cannot survive without my medications,” Nyawasedza told OurHealth. “I just wish they would have allowed me to go and get my pills and then close the roads after.”

Shutting down taxi service and local businesses, protests also allegedly disrupted funerals in the area.

Pro-Makhado Demarcation Task Team spokesperson Arnold Mulaudzi said however that people had been warned ahead of the recent protests.

“People were informed before the shutdown began so that they could ensure they bought everything they needed beforehand because we knew that once it started, they would not be able to get out from the area,” he said.