Residents will continue living on unserviced land
Residents will have to make use of pit toilets, with limited access to water and no electricity supply, while the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) considers the residents' future.
According to the DA’s MPL Graham Gersbach, residents of Winnie Mandela, Zone 2, in Tembisa will continue living on an unserviced piece of land.
He said residents will have to make use of pit toilets, with limited access to water and no electricity supply, while the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) considers the residents’ future.
“In response to an oral question in the Gauteng Legislature, COGTA MEC Jacob Mamabolo indicated that due to the availability of new technology to test for dolomitic conditions, these residents may be upgraded in-situ, or they may be relocated. The MEC fails to recognise that people have been living in these inhumane conditions for the past 22 years,” he said.
MPL Gersbach said while the MEC has indicated that the COGTA and the leadership of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) have met residents three times, the DA has received numerous complaints from a variety of stakeholders, who claim they have not been consulted about future developments.
“Despite petitions regarding both electricity and sanitation being submitted on behalf of residents, no response from either the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council or the responsible Members of the Mayoral Committee have been received,” he said.
