The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) not to further prolong the laying of criminal charges against Sol Plaatje municipality in response to the White City sewerage disaster of 2021. This comes as Sol Plaatje continues to keep residents, whose homes and belongings were destroyed by a massive sewage spill, waiting.
Former White City residents from Ward 2 staged a sit-in at Sol Plaatje last week after the municipality failed to pay out council-approved claims to residents within the stipulated 30-day period. Payments are already more than a month overdue. This is despite an amount of R5 million being allocated for compensation for damaged furniture to residents of Wards 17, 7 and 2, and payments already having been made to residents of the two afore mentioned wards.
White City residents are tired of being sent from pillar to post. Sixteen households have submitted the same claim three times since 2021. While the motion that sought approval for the furniture payouts was passed in council on 20 June 2023, there are now excuses about insurance-related delays and the need for a further internal investigation.
Residents of White City endured a torturous few years after losing their homes to sewage. They had no choice but to relocate and had to endure the further trauma of witnessing their houses being carried away by vandals. Today their homes are mere shells of buildings.
They deserve to be treated better by the municipality whose sewerage problems created this disaster in the first place.
After numerous deliberations with the SAHRC, the most recent of which took place just two weeks ago, I am appealing to them to speed up their intended criminal action against the municipality. Sol Plaatje still fails to resume full responsibility for the hardships caused by its infrastructure failures and it is about time that they are held accountable by the law.