Minister Sisulu’s water and human settlement plans

Seventeen thousand water storage tanks, 1 200 water tankers and R4.6-billion has been allocated for human settlement said the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu.

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This was announced on April 29 when she detailed her department’s response, work and plans going forward as South Africa continues life under lockdown.

The Minister addressed issues facing the department which included citizens’ access to water and housing and said they have been addressing these.

Starting with water and sanitation, Sisulu stated, “The current interventions remain mainly focused on water services infrastructure, namely water supply and sanitation.

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“By improving these areas, we are doing our best to combat the spread of Covid-19 in mainly human settlements and rural areas.”

The Water Command Centre established at Rand Water has given the department the ability to know on a daily basis what progress is being made by the team.

As it stands the department can confirm that they have delivered close to 17 000 water storage tanks across the country and over 1 200 water tankers.

She added that R306-million has already been used, with another R831-m being requested from the National Treasury to continue the interventions.

The Minister has called on those without access to water during this time to contact the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation on 0800 200 200 (toll free).

On the matter of human settlements, Sisulu said, “From the very beginning my department realised that this (social distancing) was not practical for informal settlements.

“We, therefore, came up with re-blocking as a solution (what we initially called de-densification).”

To make this possible the department partnered with organisations to resettle residents from extremely dense informal settlements to 27 land parcels which the department identified and are currently being prepared for resettlement.

R4.6-b from the Human Settlements Development Grant and the Urban Settlements Development Grant has been set aside for the initiative which will be implemented in all provinces.

For example, in the Eastern Cape’s Duncan Village in Buffalo City, a contractor has been appointed to fast-track the construction of 1 174 housing units as part of the broader Duncan Village Integrated Development Programme.

In the North West a total of 350 housing units are scheduled to be constructed for the Boitekong informal settlement in Rustenburg.

Sisulu also stated she recently met with the mayor of Johannesburg Geoff Makhubu and the MEC for Human Settlements, Cooperative Governance and Urban Planning, Lebohang Maile.

“I have asked them that residents in Gauteng who are already on the waiting list be immediately resettled into an estimated 14 000 units that have been completed,” she said.

“Although not all these units have access to basic services, plans can be made to fast-track this.”

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