ANC’s rampant corruption continues to rob Duncan Village residents of proper housing and sanitation

Issued by Solly Malatsi MP – DA Shadow Minister of Human Settlements
14 Aug 2018 in News

This statement follows an oversight inspection of Duncan Village’s sanitary conditions in East London by DA Shadow Minister of Human Settlements, Solly Malatsi MP, and DA EC Provincial Legislature Member, Sanele Magaqa MPL.

 Please find soundbites in English and Sepedi by Mr Malatsi and in IsiXhosa by Mr Magaqa. Click here, here, here  and here for pictures. Please listen to the residents here and here.

Today, the DA conducted an oversight inspection in Duncan Village informal settlement, East London, where people are forced to live in unacceptable and unsanitary conditions by a failing ANC government.

This is part of a countrywide tour in a bid to expose how the ANC government’s failures and rampant corruption has compromised housing delivery and denied South Africans dignified human settlements.

The sense of hopelessness amongst residents was evident during our interaction. Many of them expressed their frustrations with the ANC government’s continuous assault on their dignity by failing to remove refuse and unblocking blocked drains for several months.

This explains the recent revelations that a total of R341 million intended for housing in the Eastern Cape was lost to corruption. We simply cannot deny the human cost of ANC corruption which continues to rob residents of Duncan Village of their right to dignity, sanitation and safe living environment.

It is upsetting that people are forced to live in such filth which poses a major risk to their health.

There are clearly no plans to eradicate the bucket system in Duncan Village, where residents still use buckets because all communal toilets are blocked and unusable. However, the Buffalo City Municipality is adamant that that it has no money to fix the toilets which have been blocked for more than two years.

The redevelopment of Duncan Village has been on the cards for years, yet nothing has happened. There are also housing projects in and around East London which the failing ANC government has botched. These projects, if finalised, could be used to accommodate some of the people in Duncan Village and give them a decent place to live in.

In Nelson Mandela Bay, where the DA governs, we have eradicated 9 046 bucket toilets of the 16 317 we inherited. We have also successfully provided 2188 RDP complete houses to residents in the area.

In 2019, South Africans will an opportunity to vote in a government that will prioritise the improvement of their living conditions. Under a DA government, people will have access to quality, safe and dignified housing.

The people residing in Duncan Village deserve a responsive government that puts them first and that will ensure the delivery of proper housing, and a title deed to their home.