Question NW726 to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
20 September 2019 - NW726
Cuthbert, Mr MJ to ask the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
(1)(a) What are the reasons that the Lindelani Informal Settlement in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality has not been electrified, (b) what plans have been put in place to electrify the informal settlement in the future and (c) by what date will the electrification work be completed in the 2019-20 financial year; (2) what are the reasons that (a) there are no operational water trucks in portion 71 of Lindelani Informal Settlement and (b) chemical toilets are only cleaned once a week; (3) what are the reasons that the high-mast light in Alliance Ext 9 is not operational; (4) what are the reasons that the toilets built in Alliance Ext 1 in the past six years are not operational?
Reply:
(1) (a) The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is currently implementing two housing projects in the area, namely Alliance Extensions 1 and 9, which are earmarked to benefit the qualifying beneficiaries of Lindelani Informal Settlement. Through these projects the beneficiaries will be provided with electricity.
(b) Once the community has been relocated to Alliance Extensions 1 and 9, the remaining households will be reconfigured by grouping shacks into clusters and reorganizing the ground plan in such a manner as to optimally utilise space to promote the health, safety and well-being of households, with a particular focus on promoting accelerated service delivery to informal settlements, including the provision of electricity.
(c) There are no plans to electrify the informal settlement in 2019-20 financial year.
(2) (a) The City’s Water and Sanitation Department is providing water to the entire Lindelani Informal Settlement. There are sections which are provided with water through water tankers and there is a portion next to the Paul Kruger Highway which has tap water. The City is not aware of a portion known as Portion 71, and has consulted the community who could not clarify which portion is referred to as Portion 71.
(b) As from 1 July 2019 the chemical toilets are serviced once a week as per the City’s contract with the new service provider. The City has not yet received any complaints from the community and or the leadership.
(3) The City’s Energy Department is attending to the high-mast light that is not working at Extension 9. When the problem has been identified, the matter will be resolved.
(4) During 2011 the designs for the water and sewer network systems and toilet structures were approved by the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. In April 2011 the construction work commenced, but the contractor had only access to 296 stands. The remainder of the 338 stands were inaccessible, as they were occupied by 808 households. The City attempted to relocate the residents to an identified Temporary Relocation Area (TRA) without success. Only 42% of the work within 296 stands was completed.
In 2012 the contract awarded to the contractor responsible for the construction work was terminated due to poor performance and community issues.
A new contractor (2nd contractor) was appointed in 2014 to repair and complete the construction work. This contractor experienced challenges to access the area. The City’s MMC for Human Settlements had several public meetings with the community to agree on the relocation to the TRA, and therefore to make way for the construction work. Unfortunately, the community was not in agreement to relocate and the work on site progressed very slowly. The City started to incur standing time claims from the contractor.
The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements with the assistance of the City’s Corporate and Legal Department obtained a Court Order in August 2016 to relocate the 808 households to the TRA. The Court Order was never implemented due to political considerations.
During 2017 the contract of the second contractor was also terminated due to contractual issues and resistance by the residents to make way for construction. The City appointed two contractors for the construction and installation of roads and storm-water designs. The contractors could only access 42% of the development. The first phase of the construction of roads and storm-water was completed in February 2018.
On 27 September 2017 it was resolved that the City’s Human Settlements Department will take over the installation of water and sewer network systems from the Water and Sanitation Department, as it was agreed that the relocation of residents to make way for construction is a Human Settlements function. Since then, no work has been done on the water and sewer infrastructure, as there are shacks that need to be relocated to make way for construction.
During 2018 the City resolved to suspend the Alliance Extension 9 development until the relocation issues have been resolved with the community.