shops 10.1

By Anna Weekes, SAMWU Media Spokesperson The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) has expressed its shock and concern over the cholera crisis, that is clearly about to break out on a scale bigger than that in KwaZulu-Natal now that the Jukskei River running through Alexandra, Johannesburg has been infected.

The crisis, like that in KZN, has been created wholly by the council's continual refusal to provide basic services and infrastructure for the people who have been living along the Jukskei River for several years.

It is an embarrassment that in the middle of a huge industrialised city, one of the giants of Africa, the bucket and night soil system is being used. People forced to suffer the humiliation and inconvenience of not having access to running water and toilets are further degraded by having to empty night soil buckets into the river - their only water source - as the council does not collect the night soil buckets daily from all households.

Even the communal standpipe taps and council housing water systems that are available in Alex are prone to massive leakages. SAMWU offered to send a team of water workers to fix the leaks over three years ago but council turned this down. The money saved by conserving water that is lost into the ground could long ago have been used to extend the water and sewage systems in the area.

SAMWU is even more concerned that communities living along the river are now going to be hurriedly removed to Diepsloot and Braamfischerville now that cholera has broken out. This particular group of residents has been promised decent alternative housing for years now by Council, which has not materialised. There is no indication that there is enough housing in either Diepsloot or Braamfischerville to accommodate what council describes as tens of thousands of people.

Diepsloot is already overcrowded. Over the past five years, many people have moved there, including residents from Alexandra's Far East Bank. These residents were dumped on tiny plots in Diepsloot, after being told that this was a "reception area" where they should live while waiting for their houses to be built. The infrastructure was almost non-existent with water coming from trucks where residents had to fill up their daily supply in a bucket.

The area is still under serviced and overcrowded. Furthermore, Diepsloot already has a sizeable shack dwelling community who are unlikely to be pleased if residents from the Jukskei River are placed in housing ahead of them.

SAMWU shop stewards have visited the Jukskei River. Residents interviewed said their names were taken down in December and they were promised housing. They were visited a number of times but some of the visits appear to have been from private companies.

They were promised a one-room house with a toilet per family. The community took it that they would not have to pay for these houses although they are prepared to pay a nominal rent if they have to.

The Jukskei River residents told the SAMWU shop stewards they first want to see where they are being moved so that they can check the distance between their homes and workplaces. They do not want to be moved to empty stands.

SAMWU would like to get an assurance from the Johannesburg Council that there is enough housing and serviced sites for the residents in the areas where they are to be moved. If Jukskei river dwellers are simply being tricked into moving to an area where there is no cholera but no services either, this is unacceptable. There should be no hurried and unilateral removals as part of the town planning strategies in post-apartheid South Africa.