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The Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Pam Tshwete has criticized individuals who are taking chances by including themselves in the list of the affected fire victims in Joe Slovo informal settlements.

Deputy Minister Tshwete told residents of Joe Slovo informal settlements in the City of Cape Town that this was delaying the process of finalizing the list of affected households thus hampering government’s efforts to assist households to rebuild their destroyed structures.

Tshwete visited the site to assess the extent of damage caused by fire resulting in the loss of life, destruction of housing structures and displacement of people.

“We appeal to local community leaders to move with speed in working with the government to compile a list of the affected households. This will enable us to release emergency funding aimed at assisting to rebuild their structures”, said DM Tshwete.

She also informed residents that she was going to engage the Department of Home Affairs to assist those who lost their Identity Documents.

Deputy Minister Tshwete further lambasted a statement attributed to Helen Zille, the Federal Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance which seems to justify and glorify informal dwelling in the Western Cape.

“The statement is very unfortunate and reckless. No one wants to live in informal settlements. To say living in the latter in Cape Town is better as compared to other townships in the country is a slap in the face for Joe Slovo informal settlements dwellers who recently lost their structures as a result of fire and are currently displaced”, said Tshwete.

The Deputy Minister informed community members that she will return to Langa with Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi to assess progress of rebuilding and resettling affected households.

Issued by the Department of Human Settlements