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The IFP in Gauteng (IFP-GP) has learned of the promise made by the City of Johannesburg (COJ) yesterday to deliver housing and other amenities to the residents of Elias Motsoaledi informal settlement in Soweto starting from August 2013.

Much as the IFP-GP views this as an encouraging commitment by the municipality, we wish to outline that this is not the only informal settlement in Gauteng with such cruel living conditions. For instance in Kliptown, Soweto, 3000 people are living without toilets and only 122 chemical toilets have been made available to 1 700 households, meaning one toilet is shared by 12 households on average. At the same time a population of 8276 households is provided with only 79 toilets in Randfontein on the West Rand.

“The IFP-GP views this as an injustice and a violation of human rights by the government of Gauteng as well as a letdown to heed the call of the poorest in our society who since voting in 1994 have been decrying similar intolerable living conditions while government continues to make empty promises,” said IFP Caucus Leader in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) Bonginkosi Dhlamini.

“The IFP-GP strongly calls on municipalities to start acting on their promises and stop raising the hopes of Gauteng citizens without delivering. Also this government must take caution to the fact that failure to deliver will soon lead to an uproar given that many dwellers and not only in Motsoaledi are already dejected with the deplorable living conditions in informal settlements,” adds Bonginkosi Dhlamini.