Speech by the Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Alderman
Patricia de Lille on the occasion of the launch of
Sanitation and Hygiene Week in Makhaza
The Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, the Honourable Zou KotaFredericks,
The Mayoral Committee Member for Utility Services, Councillor Ernest
Sonnenberg,
The Ward Councillor, Councillor Mpucuko Nguzo,
Honoured guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning, goeie more, molweni
It is an honour to join you here today for the launch of Sanitation and
Hygiene Week.
It is significant that we are meeting in Makhaza, an area where the issue
of sanitation became a source of great tension.
As I have said before, the unfortunate episodes that took place here
should never have happened in the first place.
I am pleased that after extensive consultations with the community a
total of 1030 toilets were enclosed with concrete structures, and that the
community is satisfied with the service provided.
Cape Town, like all other metros in South Africa, is confronted by the ever
increasing demand for sanitation services.
As the latest census figures have shown, the population of Cape Town has
grown by close to 30%, the second highest growth rate in South Africa.
Yet, due to a great deal of hard work, the census also confirmed that the
Western Cape has the highest number of people with access to sanitation
services - 97.2%.
This is an impressive achievement, but we are very conscious of the fact
that there is still an enormous amount of work to do.
As more and more people seek opportunities for a better life in cities,
metros face the daunting task of meeting their service delivery
expectations with limited resources.
This is compounded by the fact that many of those in urgent need of
sanitation services reside in high density areas, which makes it very
difficult to install the bulk infrastructure needed to provide these services,
especially full flush toilets.
The City has made significant investments in the provision of water and
sanitation in order to improve the quality of life of those living in informal
settlements over the last six years. We will continue to use all resources
at our disposal do this.
For example, the budget allocation for the provision of sewerage
infrastructure has increased significantly from R51 million in the 2006/7
financial year to R130 million in the 2011/12 financial year. The budget
for water to informal settlements has substantially increased from a mere
R1.3 million to R20 million for the same period.
The number of toilets in informal settlements has more than doubled from
10 591 to 34 225 over the same period.
As a direct result of these investments, the percentage of households with
access to sanitation on a 1:5 ratio increased from 47.1% to 88.2%
between 2006 and 2012. Access to water through the provision of
standpipes on a 1:25 ratio ranges between 95% and 100%.
In the same period, these improvements in expanding access to basic
services have occurred despite the fact that the number of households in
informal settlements has increased by almost 50 000, from 154 761 to
193 951.
And more importantly, we are also implementing programmes with a
special focus on restoring the dignity of residents in informal settlements.
One such example is the provision of janitorial services, in partnership
with the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), to clean flush toilets and
standpipes, and report cases where extensive repairs are needed in
Khayelitsha.
More recently, the City has begun the roll out of portable flush toilets to
residents in informal settlements in order to expand access to sanitation
facilities in those areas.
To date 1 500 portable toilets have been distributed to residents of The
Heights informal settlement, and more will be allocated to other areas in
the next few months.
Furthermore, the City conducts hygiene awareness campaigns in informal
settlements to protect communities against avoidable health hazards.
We are also putting measures in place to help us become a more
responsive government so that we can resolve service delivery
shortcomings as quickly as possible.
To this end, the City has now installed 67 FreeCall lines in poor areas to
allow residents to report their service delivery queries at no cost to them.
A further 20 lines will be connected by the end of July this year.
Of course, we cannot resolve all the service delivery shortcomings on our
own.
We need residents and community organisations to help us achieve this. I
would like to thank the Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, the
Honourable Zou Kota-Fredericks for this initiative.
It is my sincere hope that it will assist communities to fully understand
how all spheres of government are working together to meet their
sanitation needs, and what their responsibilities are to help preserve and
maintain local infrastructure.
In conclusion I would like to introduce the Deputy Minister. We know each
other from our days in Parliament.
She was first elected to Parliament in 1994; where she went on to serve
as the Chairperson of the Housing Portfolio Committee before her
appointment as the Deputy Minister. She has a proven track record of
working hard to improve the lives of the poor.
Thank you. Baie dankie. Enkosi.