A PROMISE made a year ago by ANC Youth League president Julius Malema to a Transkei school for the disabled remains a distant dream.
Pupils at Ikwezi Lokusa Special School in Mthatha are still waiting for wheelchairs Malema promised he would deliver just before Christmas last year.
Malema made the promise on November 2 last year. The Youth League leader was in town for the league’s 65th anniversary celebrations when he made the commitment to the school.
A day before he addressed thousands of party supporters at Rotary Stadium in Ngangelizwe, Malema, in the company of present Eastern Cape ANCYL chairperson Ayanda Matiti and other delegates, visited the school.
During the visit, Malema promised to donate at least 50 wheelchairs, half of which he said would be electronic and remote-controlled.
At the time, the Dispatch quoted Malema as saying President Jacob Zuma would hand them over before schools closed for the December holidays.
The school’s deputy principal, Mzontsundu Gulwa, said although the situation was not very bad, he was disappointed Malema had failed to deliver on his promise. “The sad part of it is that he raised the hopes of the desperate pupils for nothing.”
Gulwa said because Malema made the promise out of his own will, the school did not believe they had the authority to exert any kind of pressure on the youth league president.
“We will wait until he decides to bring them,” Gulwa said.
A Durban businessman who said he was approached by Malema to manufacture the wheelchairs said he was still waiting for payment.
Martin Visagie, director and founder of Mr Wheelchair, said: “I invested a lot of money and time on Malema’s order. My staff worked day and night to meet his deadline.”
Visagie said of R508705 Malema was to pay, only R55000 had been paid. “He promised to pay the balance as soon as all the wheelchairs had been manufactured,” he said. Attempts to have Malema or the ANCYL pay for the order had proved fruitless.
“Until this day, I am still waiting for his payment.”
Visagie said Malema’s order was the biggest his business had ever received.
“It never crossed my mind that he would give me problems when he had to pay.”
Youth League national spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said he was aware of the delay, but promised that the wheelchairs would be delivered before the end of the month.
Asked about the balance needed to be paid to Mr Wheelchair, Shivambu said: “You are asking irrelevant questions that are none of your business, so stop being stupid and ignorant.
“We have paid for the manual ones, so we still need to pay for the electronic ones, which cost on average R20000.
“You are just trying to sound intelligent by giving me figures you know nothing about.”
Matiti yesterday confirmed Malema’s promise to the school.
“I was there when he committed to donating the 50 wheelchairs,” he said.
He gave a number of reasons why the chairs had not yet been delivered a year later.
“There has been a lot of infighting in the provincial youth league, so it is equally our responsibility and our fault that the chairs have not yet been delivered.
“We had to focus on congress as well as preparing for NGC (national general council).
“We then said all promises should be dealt with after that. Over the weekend, I spoke to the president of the youth league and we agreed that all diaries should be checked so that we could get a date suitable for everyone because we would like to get the President of the Republic to hand them over.
“We must take all these things into consideration, but it is our intention to deliver them as soon as possible,” he said.
Matiti said he knew nothing about outstanding money owed to Mr Wheelchair. — By SINO MAJANGAZA and SIYA BOYA
