/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The IFP calls on the Human Rights Commission to urgently investigate the
poor and disgraceful level of sanitation and housing delivery within the
City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and the province at large.
IFP Spokesperson on Human Settlements, Mr Petros Sithole, MP, said "This
week I have visited Ekangala, Mabopane, Soshanguve, Mamelodi and
Atteridgeville in Pretoria. What I found in these areas was a violation of
resident's basic rights to water, sanitation and housing. There remains a
serious undersupply of water and sanitation in these areas. The overwhelming
majority of Ekangala and Mabopane residents are still being forced to use
pit latrines. This failure of City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality to
deliver services requires both immediate investigation and urgent
intervention".

Sithole further stated that "The Human Settlements Minister, Hon Connie
September must take immediate action in reducing South Africa's large
sanitation backlog. She must present a strategic plan to Parliament on a
turnaround strategy to ensure that these essential sanitation services are
delivered on time. Sanitation delivery backlogs in rural communities like
Ekangala and Mabopane are meant to be addressed and alleviated by the Rural
Households Infrastructure Grant (RHIG) however, since its inception in 2009;
it has suffered from chronic under-spending and has forced thousands of
people in rural South Africa to continue living without access to basic
sanitation,"
"As the IFP we will continue to expose such injustices, like the ones we
have  witnessed in Ekangala and offer viable solutions to them, until every
South African is given the opportunity to live with dignity in a healthy
environment," concluded Sithole.
The IFP will request that the Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Ntombi
Mekgwe, and the Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan
Municipality, Kgosientso Ramokgopa are summonsed to Parliament to account
for their respective failures. We further call for all municipalities who
failed to provide proper sanitation to their residents to be named, shamed
and held to account before Parliament.