WATCH: Residents in Zandspruit to finally live in dignified community
ZANDSPRUIT – Soon residents of Zandspruit will live in a decent settlement with basic services delivered to them.
The City of Johannesburg has launched a Zandspuit site and service stands in the informal settlement to help alleviate squalor living conditions.
The City’s Executive Mayor Mpho Phalatse, MMC for Housing Mlungisi Mabaso and Ward 114 councillor David Mangena launched the project on February 17. The resolution to develop the area was decided at the council meeting in October 2018 when Herman Mashaba was still the executive mayor. Councillor Mangena said he believed Phalatse will deliver on the project. “We believe she is going to deliver. This community is a very peaceful community and very accessible. We have a loving people in Zandspruit,” Mangena said.
The development is set to take place in phases and the contractor has already started working on the site. Residents will be able to stay in an area that is not congested and with basic services provided.
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Phalatse said, “The ingenuity, perseverance and do-it-myself attitude of Zandspruit’s residents has seen this community survive and grow despite the community being neglected by government at all levels since its establishment more than 30 years ago. But today, the City of Johannesburg joins hands with you as we begin the process of building a long-lasting and dignified future together.”
She said they no longer want to read about Zandspruit because of brutal and heartless crimes or because of protests due to the non-delivery of services. When they read and talk about this community, it must be about the partnership built between its residents and the City. “A partnership that gives birth to safe streets and open spaces, job opportunities, a caring and working clinic, and the production of leaders in all spheres of South African society.”
Phalatse said the City was aware of its limitations and the mountains it need to climb to achieve what it has committed to, hence, they are forming a partnership with the business community. She said the partnership will be discussed and acted upon at the City’s Business Collaboration Conference in May.
The mayor explained that she had met with Eskom last December and they told her they have plans to electrify the area. “The reality is that we cannot legitimately hold our heads up high as the Johannesburg multi-party government when our residents are subjected to a life of indignity. Your lives have no less value than your neighbours in Lonehill or Dainfern.”
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