“It is like we live in a different country from other people.”
These are the words of a resident of the Chris Hani informal settlement in Khutsong.
Residents in the area complain that the Merafong City Local Municipality has forgotten them, as there is hardly any service delivery.
“A woman recently complained that the workers on a municipal truck first wanted money before they emptied her toilet,” complains a ward committee member.
She showed the Herald that, despite most other households with connections to the municipal sewerage system, residents of Chris Hani still only have pit toilets.
Almost all the roads in this settlement are so narrow that only one vehicle can pass at a time. They have not even scraped most of them in the past decade.
“We called the municipality for help earlier this year, and they started scraping two of the roads, but they stopped when they heard we are not from the ruling party,” complains another resident, Mr Benedict Mahase.
Mahase and other residents pointed out that the roads at Chris Hani are so poor that ambulances and other emergency vehicles cannot get to houses when it rains.
Even worse, the municipality fails to clear the bushes at the open veld where one enters Chris Hani from Khutsong Extension 3.
“Everyone knows this area is probably the most dangerous part of Khutsong, but we have no working high-mast lights, and the municipality never clears the bushes,” Mahase complains.
Residents are also concerned that the municipality indicated during the IDP meeting last year that it had allocated millions to upgrade living conditions in the informal area.
“We think this money is just going to disappear because the municipality has indicated in the past that it wants to relocate all the people from here,” says Mahase.
The Herald took the issues to the municipality on Monday.
“Residents are not supposed to be paying for sucking on their toilets. Water department office can be contacted with allegations of payment and the matter will be investigated,” the municipal spokesperson responded.
