Denver informal settlement sluice is being cleaned
JOBURG - Residents in the Denver informal settlement are relieved that the dangerous sluice is being cleaned up.
The cleaning of the sluice at Denver Informal Settlement is underway. Last August the sluice claimed the life of a six-year-old boy.
When Joburg East Express visited the residents, they were pleased with the progress.
Tshinakaho Mudau, a resident said she is very pleased with what the government was doing for her. “I can now see that I did not waste my time by standing in a long queue to vote during the local elections last year,” she said.
“I am very happy. I don’t know what to say. At last, our children are safe. I hope they will fence this area after cleaning it,” said another resident, Julia Dlathu.
Some residents said they were disappointed that the councillor did not hire them but people who do not live in Denver to clean the sluice.
“I have lost hope with our Ward 118 councillor Neuren Pietersen. I do not understand why he hired people from other areas and not Denver people. We are dying of hunger and he does not care about his residents,” said Bridget Ndlovu.
Meanwhile, Pietersen said he is pleased with the sluice progress. He explained that the employment packages were allocated in a dodgy manner. “Only eight locals got work while 28 other people were not from my ward. The hiring was done in a neighbouring ward by an opposition councillor,” said Pietersen.
According to Pietersen, he met with councillor Lindani Zulu to find out why the work packages were handed to him and not to the ward councillor for the area in which the waterway is located. Because of this, work opportunity preference was given to people who do not live within the community next to the waterway.
Zulu was not available for comment.
https://joburgeastexpress.co.za/61104/boy-6-dies-after-being-electrocuted-by-an-illegal-connection/
