Question NW1645 to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation

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19 November 2020 - NW1645

Profile picture: Tafeni, Ms N

Tafeni, Ms N to ask the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation

(a) What measures has her department put in place to ensure that there is sufficient sanitation at informal settlements across the Republic, where persons often share ablution facilities and (b) has she undertaken any study to determine what would be sufficient ablution facilities to enable the social distancing now required to combat Covid-19?

Reply:

(a) The Department of Human Settlements, working closely with provincial Departments of Human Settlements and municipalities has put in place a strategy and implementation plan to ensure that there is sufficient sanitation in informal settlements across the Republic, where persons often share ablution facilities. Informal settlements have been identified as high priority area for mass sanitisation disinfection. Areas to be disinfected include communal water collection points and communal toilet facilities. The response plan provides measures proposed through the current Informal Settlements Upgrading Programme (UISP) to immediately:

1. Minimise and mitigate the rate of COVID-19 infections and spread, through interventions in vulnerable households and communities, focused on informal settlements, hostels, inner-cities and backyards.

2. Enable households to observe physical and/or social distancing and self-isolation in terms of public health regulations.

3. Resettlement of identified dense and overcrowded settlements through the establishment of Transitional Residential Areas (TRAs).

4. Enhance implementation process of the projects currently underway with specific focus on projects benefiting informal settlements households.

(b) The Department together with Provinces have identified informal settlements without and those with limited services to determine what would be sufficient ablution facilities to enable the social distancing now required to combat Covid-19 by installing new or augmenting the existing basic services i.e. communal water points and communal toilet facilities. Additional action to mitigate COVID-19 has been established through a National Human Settlements Command Centre (NHSCC) that has been set up at the HDA. All Provinces and Metropolitan Municipalities are members of the NHSCC.

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