DA PR councillor, Belinda Echeozonjoku, has cited the importance of registering street names in informal areas as part of restoring dignity and identity.
In a speech which she recently gave about the third quarter reviews, Belinda explained how the DA-led administration had prioritised unnamed streets in the City of Johannesburg.
However, before that, she reflected on her childhood – growing up in a remote area without proper services. “I understand first-hand the experience of living in a nameless place, and how easy it is to be forgotten; it somehow also makes the people living there nameless,” she said, having lived in a remote area called Tsitsikamma in Knysna, Western Cape.
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“Imagine waiting three hours for an ambulance, and having to explain the nearest landmark, as the ambulance keeps getting lost. Meanwhile, someone is dying – all because there are no street names to identify exactly where the emergency is.”
“Imagine applying for a job and the nearest landmark is just a house in the middle of nowhere. One misses out on opportunities because of not being able to give a proper address.”
“Imagine a woman or a child who has been raped or violated having to explain to the police where the incident happened and not having adequate information to assist the investigating officer, as there are no street names,” she said, evoking some serious thought with these scenarios during the Council sitting.
She also referred to an incident in Zandspruit where emergency personnel got lost due to the lack of street names.
“Just recently, I was once again angered when a Zandspruit community member asked for me to call an ambulance for them. I found myself in the same old predicament of having to explain the nearest landmarks to the emergency personnel, as there are no street names, house numbers or proper streets for the ambulance to get through the shacks,” she recalled.
She continued to criticise, “This is happening despite the City of Johannesburg being a Metropolitan City since 1996, and despite the dawn of democracy 25 years ago. Between ‘Together we can do more’ and ‘Thuma Mina’, we still to this day have nameless places and forgotten people in this City”.
However, she expressed her gratitude to the multi-party government for working tirelessly to prioritise and resolve the backlog of unnamed streets, especially in areas such Braamfischerville Extension 10, and Meadowlands Zones 11 and 12, where ‘diphetogo’ (change) is said to be taking place.
She also said that when the project commences it will create jobs, and benefiting communities would receive better access to basic services like street lights, emergency services, and refuse collection and be easily identifiable.
