WATCH: No more Izinyoka for Slovo
"By finally electrifying this community, we will provide dignity to this forgotten community."
Slovo Park Informal Settlement or just Slovo for short has been in the dark for many years. The thousands of households in the area all get their electricity illegally.
Slovo Park Informal Settlement – located next to the Nancefield industrial area, close to Eldorado Park and Soweto – is home to over 4000 informal households.
If you take a walk through Slovo, or if you have been there before you might have seen the live wires. The live wires are connected and hang like washing lines in a yard. Think of the dangers such wires can bring about.
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Well, you don’t even have to think about, you probably heard about it. Many people have lost their lives to these live wires. Slovo Park residents even said that just two weeks ago a little child lost their lives to one of these wires.
The City of Johannesburg and City Power won’t just be giving the informal settlement community electricity; they will be saving many lives.
Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba, and the MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Service Delivery, Councillor Nico de Jager and the MMC for Housing, Councillor Mzobanzi Ntuli, launched the City of Johannesburg’s electrification of Slovo Park Informal Settlement in partnership with City Power.
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Mashaba said that this was part and parcel of the A Re Sebetseng project. A Re Sebetseng translates to Let Us Work, and by this, he meant that he is tired of things not being done, it is time to work on the City of Johannesburg and actually make it a World Class African City.
It is said that for over two decades, the people of Slovo fought for the electrification of their community.
Despite their pleas, and successful court action, previous governments have failed to respond, but now they have finally had their wish granted and it is time to light the way.
WATCH:
The CoJ had been working with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and from this multi-party government, it has finally brought along the long-awaited change to residents of Slovo.
Mashaba said, “By finally electrifying this community, we will provide dignity to this forgotten community.”
