The residents of Malamulele have called off their six week protest – a move which will allow the learners in the area to attend school for the first time this year.

The residents in the area have been demanding their own municipality after they claimed that the Thulamela Municipality has been channelling services to Tshivenda-speaking areas, rather than their own, which is dominated by Xitsonga speakers.

Locals have prevented learners from attending school and have razed four schools since January – forcing the police to put the area on a lock down.

Tensions also ran high after Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) announced in January that Malamulele did not qualify for its own municipality.

The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan, on Monday, welcomed the lifting of the shutdown, saying the decision allows the community to return to normal.

“Learners and their educators will now return to school. Parents will now return to work to earn their income in order to provide for their families.

“Most importantly, the lifting of the shutdown paves the way for the residents of Thulamela Local Municipality in general, and, in particular, the community of Malamulele and environs to engage meaningfully with the new process initiated by the Minister in terms of Section 22(2) of the Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998," said Gordhan.

He said the move will also enable the government's package of initiatives to be implemented.

The Minister has requested the MDB to investigate the redetermination of the boundaries of a number of municipalities throughout the county in order to optimize their economic and financial viability as well as their ability to render services to the people in line with the Back to Basics approach.

This provides the MDB with an opportunity to use demarcation as a real instrument of development. Municipalities in the Vhembe district are included in this request.

Both the national and provincial government will continue to engage with stakeholders involved to ensure that service delivery is enhanced to all citizens, while the demarcation processes unfold.