Stop bringing more people to Zandspruit

Bad roads and passages in Zandspruit cause delays in basic community emergency services resulting in tragedies and disasters.

So said Zandspruit community development worker, Protas Mbatha. “In cases of emergencies when the community needs fire brigades to attend to shack fires, they struggle to reach the area,” he said.

Mbatha also mentioned that there had been cases of sick people who needed emergency ambulance services. “People suffer because our bad roads and passages do not allow for these kinds of basic emergency services to be delivered properly and instantly. Then these emergencies get out of control, resulting in tragedies,” Mbatha added.

According to Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) marketing and communications manager Bertha Peters- Scheepers, The City of Johannesburg Region C has established a Zandspruit task team, of which JRA forms part. “On a fortnightly basis the team meets and addresses all service delivery defects in Zandspruit. All the streets are regularly maintained, driveable and accessible, except two gravel roads which have some challenges.

“‘There is also a street where the houses are so close to each other and the road so narrow that the grader cannot navigate and negotiate moving. Even the normal delivery trucks struggle to deliver goods in that street. The other street, Marina belongs to Gautrans and JRA does not have a right to work on that street,” said Peters-Scheepers.

She added that JRA grades the streets as and when required. However, the problem in Zandspruit is that the community members dig in the road to do illegal connections, construct or extend houses on the road reserve and they dump all sorts of rubble into the storm water drain and they damage JRA kerb inlets.

“JRA has on numerous occasions engaged the local leadership, including the ward councilor, in trying to address the situation but to no improvement,” said Peters-Scheepers.

Ward 114 councillor Maureen Schneemann said, because of family congestion in Zandspruit, there is no way that government can build roads in the area. “I hate the living conditions out there but because of the growing number of families on a daily basis, there is nothing that can be done.”

She said that in 2006, Zandspruit area had shack farms without water, sanitation and other basic services. “The land did not belong to the government, it was private property. People just invaded the land and there is now over 25 000 families and the number is growing. We have just bought the land last year and the plan is to move the people and build 7 000 houses and roads there,” she added.

She mentioned that the government is busy engaging with nearby property owners to buy more land so that people can be relocated there. “There is also no drainage. Johannesburg Water has started bringing pipes to drain the water away. Until we move the people from the land, no roads can be built in the area,” said Schneemann.

Details: Johannesburg Roads Agency(JRA) Marketing and Communications Manager Bertha Peters-Scheepers 011 298 5023/0795104186;

Ward 114 councillor Maureen Schneemann 083 2971 128