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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng welcomes the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) investigation into the unsanitary and inhumane use of pit toilets by Evaton residents in Emfuleni.

For the past 29 years, the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) has failed to eradicate pit toilets in Evaton and to provide dignified housing and access to reliable water and electricity supplies for Evaton residents.

Today, the DA conducted an oversight inspection with the SAHRC in Evaton, and we were shocked to discover that six households are sharing one pit toilet.

This is appalling, unhygienic, and poses a danger to children, women, and the community.

Furthermore, most of the community members who are eligible to vote do not have identity documents, and their children do not have birth certificates.

This is because they cannot afford to commute to Home Affairs offices to apply for identity documents and birth certificates.

The DA will write to the following Gauteng MECs for Human Settlements, Social Development, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the Minister for Home Affairs to seek assistance with the issues faced by these residents.

These residents continue to suffer due to the failed Evaton Renewal Project.

The DA demands that the Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile, urgently launch a forensic audit into the failed Evaton Renewal Project to establish what happened to the millions allocated to the project.

Issued by Mervyn Cirota MPL - DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Human Settlements