Premier orders Emalahleni to formalise squatter camps
He has also threatened to fire the contractors and demand back government’s money.
EMALAHLENI – Premier David Mabuza has instructed Emalahleni Local Municipality councillors to do away with informal settlements which he described as a “health hazard” for the fast-growing population.
Mabuza visited the municipality on Wednesday to hand over two legacy houses in Empumelelweni Township in Vosman.
Mabuza has demanded a plan from the municipality on the formalisation of all informal settlements around the municipality to be submitted to his Office in a week’s time.
“These informal settlements are a health hazard to the people. When you go there, you would leave that place a sick person. The situation is very terrible. There is dust all over and people are not living a normal life there.
“You should speedily identify land, build RDP houses and move those people to a serviced land. Our pace of service delivery is too slow, we must plan ahead and stop reacting to the problems,” said Mabuza.
He reminded them that they were managing a big municipality on behalf of the people and they needed to be proactive. He said they needed to push the provincial government until they received the necessary attention as they were surrounded by everyday-problems.
He said their infrastructure was ageing and the plan to be submitted to his Office should specify how they would deal with it. He added that the municipality had councillors who had been there since dawn of democracy and their experience was not visible.
The municipality received a disclaimer from the Auditor-General audit report.
“We must bring public confidence through our work; we cannot afford to nurse each other and be friends at the expense of the people who gave us mandate to run this government on their behalf.
“We cannot fail on our problems; otherwise people will lose confidence on the leadership of the ANC as a ruling party. We must proactively buy land and do away with informal settlements. They degrade our people and end up creating even more social problems,” said Mabuza.
Last year, Mabuza managed to relocate only two families from Coronation Park informal settlement to KwaGuqa Township after reading about their plight in the media. After visiting the area, he asked the municipality to relocate all the people to a serviced land as they lived on an un-rehabilitated mine.
Recent Census statistics reveal that the population in Emalahleni Municipality is increasing as people flocked there in search of job opportunities. It is in this regard that Mabuza demands a plan from the municipality on how they would handle the situation.
Again on Wednesday whilst in Empumelelweni Township, Mabuza checked the disappointing and unacceptable state of the newly built RDP houses which had been handed over to the beneficiaries. The houses were of poor quality and he demanded that the four involved contractors should not be paid until they had rectified its construction.
He has called an urgent meeting to take place on Thursday, 19 September, 2013 between Human Settlements MEC Andries Gamede, Emalahleni Mayor and the contractors. Mabuza has since asked the beneficiaries not to occupy the houses until they had been corrected.
