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The Democratic Alliance wants to covey its sincere sympathies with the
family of Mrs Martha Mayigwana, who passed away in a fire this
weekend.

I visited the area over the weekend and saw for myself the horrible
conditions in which people are expected to live. Water pressure in
Ivory Park was so low that residents could not obtain water to
extinguish the fire. If the residents had better access to water,
which is a basic right, the fire could have been contained much sooner
and perhaps Mrs Mayigwana’s life could have been saved. It is only a
blessing that the fire did not spread to neighboring shanties.

It should not have been left up to residents to fight fires.
Municipalities are meant to have efficient firefighting services in
place, with enough equipment and staff to respond effectively to any
emergency. However, COGHSTA has previously indicated that Sol Plaatje
only has 6 fire trucks. The Frances Baard District Municipality has
also stated in its Integrated Development Plan that there’s no
firefighting services in either Dikgatlong, Magareng or Phokwane.

Effectively, the entire Frances Baard district only has six fire
trucks at its disposal.

A lack of funding is often blamed for inadequate firefighting
services. However, the human cost of poor firefighting services is far
too high. Mrs Mayigwana’s passing reminds us that many others have
also died in shanty fires in the province.

The Democratic Alliance urges the Sol Plaatje municipality to make
haste with its firefighting targets. In its 2015/16 budget, the
municipality has set aside R1 million for a satellite fire station in
Homevale. We trust that the satellite fire station will help improve
reaction times and we want to see that it is open for business as soon
as possible.

Issued by the DA