For Malope Ntsani, 39, of Sicelo Shiceka informal settlement in Midvaal the new toilets mean she will no longer monitor her kids when they make use of her open pit toilet. Ntsani is amongst 1 000 residents of Sicelo Shiceka settlement who received chemical portable toilets today.
Gauteng MEC for Local Government and Housing MEC Humphrey Mmemezi handed over the first batch of 1 000 toilets after visiting the area last Tuesday.
The MEC made the commitment during his walk about in the area, after realising the imbalances when it comes to delivery of services in the Midvaal area. “I realised after the walk about in the area that there are no toilets and people use nearby bushes and open pit toilets to relieve themselves. I made a commitment that we will get funds so that we can buy toilets for the community. There are also only 9 taps for the community of 4 000 shacks,” said MEC Mmemezi.
He said the department was able to secure R5,7 million to provide 1 000 toilets and these are going to be cleaned twice a week.
Mmemezi said they will always intervene as a provincial government where municipalities are failing to deliver even basic services to communities. “We can’t allow municipalities to deprive people of basic services,” said Mmemezi.
He said the delivery of toilets had nothing to do with the timing of elections. “As a MEC of Local Government and Housing I was doing my routine work of visiting communities in Gauteng. When I was doing the walkabout in Sicelo Shiceka informal settlement I was approached by local residents who pleaded with me to assist with providing toilets in the area. This situation had to be addressed immediately”.
Mmemezi said they are also going to provide 438 houses in this current financial year for the residents of this informal settlement. ”It will take 3 years for my department to eradicate the Sicelo Shiceka informal settlement. We want Midvaal to become a construction site and provide houses for all the residents in this municipality.”
The department’s long term commitment is to relocate other residents to a mixed income residential area that will accommodate 3 000 families in Savannah.
For further information contact:
Motsamai Motlhaolwa
Cell: 079 897 2240
Eddie Mokoena
Cell: 083 602 5652
