Devastating fires in Western Cape a result of poor housing delivery
As some people enjoyed the Easter break with families, in pristine holiday
destinations or in places of worship; over 200 families in Western Cape
townships such as Gugulethu, Philippi and Langa battled raging fires which
caused untold damage. Working class families living backyard dwelllings and
shack settlements spent sleepless nights fighting devastating fires fanned by
excessive winds and now remain without proper shelter. Many have lost their
belongings including official documentation such as Identity Documents,
certificates etc.
These incidents happen barely a week after the MEC of Human Settlements,
Bonginkosi Madikizela, delivered his budget speech marked by spices of
prevarication and illusions of delivery of housing and basic services. As the
SACP we rejected the flawed illusions of housing and basic services delivery by
MEC Madikizela and the daily experiences of our people confirm our view that
the Democratic Alliance has failed to deliver and restore the dignity of
working class communities.
The same devastating fires broke out in Khayelitsha BM section on New Year's
day and to-date families still do not have decent houses. Fire victims in
Khayamandi in Stellenbosch are still reeling from the fire disaster and are
rebuilding their structures without the help of the provincial government. It
is shameful that the DA's record in government since 2009 is littered with a
litany of failures which result in the suffering of poor communities.
The DA has no Human Settlement Policy hence this evident inability to deliver
and instead continuously reduce housing delivery and basic services targets.
The mounting anger of communities expressed in protests is justified in light
of this monumental failure to deliver houses and extend basic services by the
DA in the Western Cape.
As the SACP, We find it astonishingly insensitive and senseless for the DA to
blame victims of such fire disasters irresponsible when the real problem is
that people do not have access to proper housing and safe electricity for
heating and cooking. The has failed to address the fundamental structural
problem of housing despite increased budget from National Government and
instead boasts that it has given people temporary shelters which in any event
become permanent as the DA does not construct houses for the poor.
The SACP will continue to intensify its organising and mobilization campaign of
the working class communities to demonstrate their frustrations against the DA
and demand proper houses, water, sanitation, refuse removal etc.
We support the residents of Mfuleni who protested yesterday demanding basic
services such as electricity and water. As we honour April as Chris Hani Month
we will hold public demonstrations culminating in a protest march to the
Provincial Administration of the DA-led government to demand urgent delivery of
houses and basic services for all.
Issued by Western Cape SACP
Contact:SACP Provincial Secretary: Khaya Magaxa Mobile: 083 7210221
ORSACP Western Cape Media Liaison: Sonwabile Ngxiza071 4511329
--
--
You are subscribed. This footer can help you.
Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this
message.
You can visit the group WEB SITE at
http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options,
pages, files and membership.
To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You
don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put
anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this
address (repeat): [email protected] .
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"YCLSA Discussion Forum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
