The rain for Toekomsrus residents mean a water-filled home and ruined furniture as a result of asbestos roofing living out its life expectancy.
Donovan Cloete, DA Councillor for Ward 20 took the Herald on a tour of some of the worst-hit Toekomsrus homes by flooding as a result of leaky asbestos roofs.
According to Cloete, asbestos roofing was supposed to be phased out. He said asbestos roofing is part of old infrastructure that needs to be replaced as a result of the wear and tear of it over the years as well as the health hazards that go along with it.
In 2014 it was announced by Malibongwe Kanjana, chief of operations in the Gauteng Human Settlements Department that asbestos roofs were a health hazard and that Gauteng would pay for the replacement of asbestos roofing in impoverished areas.
“The asbestos in many houses is old.
Some of the asbestos roofs are broken and research shows that this causes respiratory problems,” Kanja said.
This is in line with the issue Cloete has in his area as many residents with asbestos roofing have been complaining about leakages every time the rain falls.
“A lot of these roofs are old and the weather doesn’t help anything. If a hail storm hits, the roofs get damaged. These roofs need to be replaced with tiles. People right now are living with tyres, stones and silicone on their roofs to fix the leakages,” Cloete said.
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism announced that the use and manufacturing of asbestos was banned in South Africa in 2008 with immediate effect.
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