A long-anticipated visit to Makhaza in Khayelitsha by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Sicelo Shiceka, will take place on Thursday, 24 June 2010, while the city and the community remain locked in a stalemate over the future of appropriate toilets for residents.
The minister will be hosted by Premier Helen Zille, Mayor Dan Plato and MEC responsible for Local Government, Mr Anton Bredell, will be received by the Councillor for Makhaza and attend meetings with various stakeholders to get a holistic perspective on the issue.
Makhaza section in the sprawling Khayelitsha Township just outside Cape Town was in recent weeks the scene of violent running battles between residents and the police as the community rejected corrugated iron enclosures that the municipality had constructed around open unenclosed toilets that the city had built for residents.
Minister Shiceka will meet with the leadership of Makhaza in Solomon Mahlangu Community Hall for a short briefing, after-which he will proceed to Makhaza Recreation Park for a direct engagement with the community on the issue that led to the protests.
Following the meeting with the community, Minister Shiceka and the leadership will go on a walk-about to see the sites where the toilets were removed and the kind of corrugated iron enclosures the city had provided.
For further details on the visit, details on a briefing and requests for interviews with the minister, please contact:
Vuyelwa Qinga Vika
Tel: 012 334 0993/5
Cell: 082 877 3898
