The Gauteng Provincial Government’s (GPG) failure to address the housing crisis has resulted in the mushrooming of informal settlements on the riverbanks across the province. This is negatively impacting our waterways by adding more waste to the already overburdened water system. Along the riverbanks, crude shelters and rubbish heaps block the water’s natural path, worsening urban flooding and putting residents’ lives in danger.
The banks crumble away as rain-soaked earth gives way, sending mud downstream. When this happens vital water infrastructure suffers damage from the concentrated filth carried by swollen rivers. The polluted water does not stay in the rivers but also overwhelms the drainage systems, resulting in rising treatment costs, public health risks dangers, and damaged natural ecosystems that once helped purify water naturally.
It is high time that the Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Tasneem Motara and Premier Panyaza Lesufi start actioning the plans they say are in place to address the housing crisis and the housing waiting list that has exceeded 1.2 million. During his State of the Province Address (SOPA), Premier Lesufi indicated that the Ikageleng Rapid Release programme will address the gap in income groups that do not qualify for the full subsidy programme and do not earn enough to qualify for a bond. We will be tabling questions to ascertain how GPG plans to protect our riverbanks across the province.
A Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng provincial-led government would focus on strengthening riverbanks with native plants protecting buffer zones along waterways.