SAHRC finds Brandfort guilty of violating human rights in Joe Slovo Informal Settlement
Note to editors: The following statement was distributed at a press conference hosted at the Free State Provincial Legislature today by DA Parliamentary Leader,Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, DA Leader in the Free State, Patricia Kopane MP, Free State Provincial Chairperson, Annelie Lotriet MP, and Free State Provincial Spokesperson, Peter Frewen MPL. The SAHRC report can be downloaded here.
The DA welcomes the finding by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) that Masilonyana Local Municipality in the Free State Province has been found guilty of violating the human rights of the people of Joe Slovo informal settlement and that several remedial actions will need to be taken by the municipality.
This follows the complaint I lodged with the Commission following my visit to the Joe Slovo Informal Settlement last year, where I walked over 3 km in solidarity with members of the community to draw water from the local waterworks. The women of Joe Slovo were forced to walk this route up to three times a day because communal taps would run dry for weeks and clean water was not being provided by the municipality.
The investigation conducted by the SAHRC revealed further startling information about the conditions in which the community must live, which has left me shocked and angered. These are conditions which no South African should have to endure:
- It has been approximately two years since the contamination and shortages of water in the municipality began, and these shortages last days at a time;
- Residents experience stomach problems as a result of the unclean water they are exposed to;
- One resident revealed that on opening a tap to access water, she was met with a "slippery slimy substance emanating from the tap";
- The SAHRC was also informed by a resident that she has on occasion been met with "flesh-like substances" as if from an animal, "being excreted from the tap on opening it";
- This same resident is alleged to have experienced an illness relating to the consumption of this water;
- On accessing water, residents are met with water containing "dead flies and mosquitos, which when collected in a bucket smell foul."