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The heavy rains that have fallen over the last few days and coupled with low temperatures, indicate that winter has arrived. Indeed, it is forecast that the Easter weekend will be another wet and cold one. Residents in Crosby are up in arms again due to the continuous power outages in the area due to the increase in illegal connections in the Slovo Park Informal Settlement. Most residents have been without power since the early weekend. Many residents are also complaining of shocks when touching the taps. Residents in this area also face constant water outages due to Rand Water’s constant outages that affect Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill Reservoirs. This is a very serious problem.

In 2018 the DA-led coalition government added additional electricity capacity which was initiated by starting the electricity infrastructure phase one upgrade but when the ANC came into power in 2019, any further upgrades stopped.

The residents of Slovo Park Informal Settlement and Crosby have suffered appalling neglect for more than two decades and they had hope that their lives would change when they were promised the in-situ upgrade by the ANC-led Gauteng Provincial government which has not yet materialised.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is yet again calling on the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile to urgently prioritise the allocation of a budget for the implementation of the in-situ upgrade for Slovo Park and Crosby Informal Settlements in Johannesburg.

The DA is deeply concerned that winter is upon us, and the residents of Crosby will yet again have to suffer from daily outages lasting several hours.

It is disappointing to see in the Gauteng Province Estimates of Capital Expenditure 2022, that the Slovo Park/Crosby housing project is still at the feasibility study stage.

The DA does welcome that there is at least some sort of movement towards this housing project, however it is taking an extraordinarily long time to complete the feasibility study, taking into consideration that bulk infrastructure had been installed on the bottom side of Slovo Park back in 2017/2018. The project was then stopped.

In the 2019/2020 financial year in questions submitted to MEC Maile, he stated that the informal settlement has been identified for an in-situ upgrade in the 2019/2020 financial year through the Upgrade of Informal Settlement Programme (UISP). We are already in the 2022/2023 financial year and a feasibility study still continues and is due to continue till the 2024/2025 financial year according to the estimates of capital expenditure.

The residents of Crosby and Slovo Park cannot continue in this manner for an indefinite period of time. We need action now.

The DA will continue to put pressure on MEC Maile to prioritise this project. MEC Maile needs to elaborate why was the projected stopped after the installation of bulk infrastructure, where exactly are we with the feasibility study and why it is taking so long as well as push to have this project commence as soon as possible. We will also engage with the City of Johannesburg to ensure that City Power takes immediate action and removes all the illegal cables and restores power urgently.

All our people deserve to live in dignified housing that has access to basic necessities such as electricity as stipulated by the constitution.

Issued by DA Joburg Central Constituency Head, Sergio Dos Santos MPL