Should the need arise, those living in informal settlements will be moved to any one of 17 land parcels identified by the government.
“Of these, 13 land parcels are state-owned and four pieces of land are privately owned.
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“We have already started preparing some areas for resettlement,” Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu said yesterday during her National Command Council address.
She added that government had identified 29 densely populated informal settlements across the country.
“These informal settlements have a high propensity for the spread of Covid-19 and the spread could get out of control and we could find ourselves overwhelmed if we don’t do something as a matter of urgency.
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“As such we have decided that we need to resettle some of the residents to ease congestion,” Sisulu said.
The minister said the threat and risk of the spread of the coronavirus in the informal settlements is very real.
“I’m sure some of you have seen the news of what has happened in other countries when the spread of Covid-19 gets out of control.
“We have to do everything we can to ensure that the same scenarios do not occur here,” the Minister said.
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