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ISSUE 24 – 12 November 2020 Email: olifants@papashamedia.co.za Tel: 010 023 1845 www.theolifants.co.za Find us on
5 Common food safety mistakes
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Tembisa Super Gals Netball Club goes national
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No water, no toilets for people of Tswelopele Ext.8 By Obedience Mkhabela and Dumisani Hlatswayo
R
esidents of Tswelopele Ext.8, an informal settlement in Tembisa, lack adequate access to clean water and sanitation. One of the concerned residents who asked to remain anonymous said, at least 50 people have been sharing a communal mobile toilet for over two years. “In 2018, we were moved from Duduza to Tswelopele Ext.8. We don’t have water here, water is only available at 2:00 am just after midnight. This means if you work the night shift the following day you won’t have water. It’s much better if you work the day shift, and around 2:00 am or 4:00 am, you can get up and fetch water. In most cases, water is turned off around 5:00 am but sometimes earlier than that,” the resident told The Olifants News. “We tried to raise this issue with one of our community leaders, but we’re not getting any help. My biggest concern is that up to 50 people share the same toilet. We have been asking for toilets since 2018 when we arrived here,” he revealed. According to the resident, the municipality has tried bringing Jojo tanks but they were placed far from where residents live. “Sometimes there’s no water in those tanks as there are many people now living in Ext. 8. We do have taps but they can’t provide us with any water,” he says. Crime is also rampant in Tswelopele. Just recently a group of men broke into a shack through the roof in the middle of the night, when residents woke up and went out to inspect, the criminals dared
Derek Thompson
them to take them on. EFF ward councillor, Samson Sebetha said his people that were moved from Duduza to Tswelopele Ext.8, now have water and electricity. “Some of them even have toilets. The only people who can tell you those things are the people who invaded the land during elections in 2019. And it doesn’t fall under my ward,” Sebetha said. “There is a guy who is fighting me who is
always directing media houses to currently busy with is petitioning me even when residents don’t fall Human Settlements and Water to under my ward,” Sebetha revealed. put infrastructure for them. I am He referred The Olifants News to busy addressing the issue through DA councillor, Derek Thomson. various departments,” Thomson Thomson said they are working explained. tirelessly to petition government to “Most do not have electricity put proper infrastructure for peo- because they were placed at the ple of Ext.8. “Those people were flood lines zone, Eskom refuses placed there by the Department to install electricity for them of Human Settlement without any but that too is being discussed,” proper planning. So what I am said Thomson.
“The bridge is another huge matter around here because when the rain pours the next morning children cannot pass through to go to school,” said Abram Hloangoane, who is a community member and Ward 1 infrastructure Committee Tswelopele Ex.8 “When we were moved in here they built that bridge but it was not high enough and now we demand a higher one,” Hlongoane said.