Despite billions allocated by Ekurhuleni Municipality, residents still without dignified sanitation
3 September 2019
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the ANC-led City of Ekurhuleni to immediately deliver overdue services to the more than 15 000 residents living at the Lindelani Informal Settlement.
Women face violent crimes like rape when having to relieve themselves in bushes in the dark of night because the city’s promises to electrify the area have failed. High mast lights which have been installed more than seven years ago are still not operational.
The DA will, therefore, write to the City of Ekurhuleni, to table a plan within the next financial quarter detailing how it is going to implement an electrification programme in Lindelani.
It is an absolute shame that residents of Lindelani have not had basic services since 1999.
Toilet structures that were built eight years ago are scattered along the road with only concrete walls and no running water and sanitation. The few available chemical toilets are being cleaned only once a week despite the allocated tender requiring that they be cleaned more than twice a week.
Furthermore, The DA notes with grave concern that the City of Ekurhuleni has spent a whopping R1.9 billion rand on container toilets, rather than fixing these existing structures. This is way beyond the national threshold.
Where the DA governs in the City of Cape Town, it spends about R900 on a container toilet, in comparison to the City of Ekurhuleni’s R3500 per container toilet.
The DA will, therefore, write to the Ministers of Human Settlement, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu and Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to urgently formalise Lindelani and provide the required basic services to restore the residents’ dignity.
Only the DA can bring change to the people of Lindelani Informal Settlement which builds One South Africa for All.
Issued by Emma Powell, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, 3 September 2019
