Government to help fire-affected households to rebuild their structures
The Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Pam Tshwete, has assured households affected by fires that destroyed several structures in the City of Cape Town that their building materials will be delivered over the next few days. Deputy Minister Tshwete met with community members in Doornbach and Joe Slovo informal settlements.
About seven fire incidents were reported in the City of Cape Town over the Easter Weekend. As a result, over 340 informal structures were destroyed leaving over 740 households without shelter.
“We are at an advanced stage to procure the building materials to enable the affected households to rebuild their structures. We have directed our team that has been dispatched here to work around the clock to ensure that we deliver as expected of us and as quickly as possible by Monday, latest Tuesday”, said Deputy Minister Tshwete.
The Department of Human Settlements, in coordination with the Departments of Social Development and Home Affairs and the Non-Governmental Organisations, to help return the lives of the affected communities to normalcy.
Accordingly, the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, who was also attending to fire victims indicated that the South African Social Security Agency was already on the ground to provide much-needed relief. She added that a process was underway to secure uniforms for the affected households with school-going children.
Regarding the government’s commitment to improve the living conditions of informal settlement dwellers, Minister Tshwete implored the City of Cape Town to effectively use their budget allocation, including the recent additional R70,5 million by the National Treasury, towards the upgrading of informal settlements by providing much needed basic services such as water and sanitation.
Media Enquiries:
Hlengiwe Nhlabathi-Mokota
Spokesperson for Ministry of Human Settlements
Cell: 064 754 8426
Nozipho Zulu
Cell: 078 457 9376
