BROKEN PROMISES FOR FORGOTTEN TEMBISA PEOPLE

Both President Jacob Zuma and Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane have broken promises to the people of Tembisa on the East Rand.

I discovered this on my visit yesterday to forgotten people and places in and around Tembisa as part of the DA's "Don't forget the forgotten" campaign in Gauteng.

I was accompanied by DA Tembisa Constituency Head Patricia Mokgohlwa and local DA Councillors and activists.

I met Ms Boniswa Ralanti at the Madelakufa informal settlement who was promised a house by President Zuma when he visited there in November last year.

He personally told her she would get a house, but nothing has happened for her and other residents who still live in shacks with poor services.

Her neighbour, Ms Ellen Manqa is 88 years old and looks after several orphans with little state assistance. They all live in inhuman conditions without electricity or decent sanitation.

At the Kaalfontein Railway informal settlement, 285 families live next to a railway line. Their only water is a tap across the railway, which is highly dangerous. They are supposed to be relocated, but it does not seem that this will happen soon.

Another broken promise is the conversion of Sethokga Hostel into family units. People were moved out four years ago, but the hostel is still an empty ruin.

I also visited the Kempton Park Hospital which has been closed for 15 years. Premier Nomvula Mokonyane promised to re-open it in her inaugural address three years, but it remains abandoned. The building is deteriorating and it costs about R1 million a year to guard it. There is a great need to re-open this hospital to take the strain off the over-crowded Tembisa and Edenvale hospitals.

I spent a freezing cold night at the home of Mr Climax Shimange at the L and J informal settlement in Olifantsfontein near the R21 Highway. About 5000 people live there without electricity. Water tanks provide water but the tank near where I stayed ran out in the evening. Pit toilets are used by the residents. Their dearest wish is that things will improve so that they can rename their settlement Love and Joy.

The forgotten people of Tembisa need more than empty promises to uplift their lives.

I will do my best to ensure that they are not forgotten.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Caucus Leader, July 25 2012

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