SAHRC finds Brandfort guilty of violating human rights in Joe Slovo Informal Settlement

Note to editors: The following statement was distributed at a press conference hosted at the Free State Provincial Legislature today by DA Parliamentary Leader,Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, DA Leader in the Free State, Patricia Kopane MP, Free State Provincial Chairperson, Annelie Lotriet MP, and Free State Provincial Spokesperson, Peter Frewen MPL. The SAHRC report can be downloaded here.

The DA welcomes the finding by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) that Masilonyana Local Municipality in the Free State Province has been found guilty of violating the human rights of the people of Joe Slovo informal settlement and that several remedial actions will need to be taken by the municipality. 

This follows the complaint I lodged with the Commission following my visit to the Joe Slovo Informal Settlement last year, where I walked over 3 km in solidarity with members of the community to draw water from the local waterworks. The women of Joe Slovo were forced to walk this route up to three times a day because communal taps would run dry for weeks and clean water was not being provided by the municipality.

The investigation conducted by the SAHRC revealed further startling information about the conditions in which the community must live, which has left me shocked and angered. These are conditions which no South African should have to endure:

• It has been approximately two years since the contamination and shortages of water in the municipality began, and these shortages last days at a time;
• Residents experience stomach problems as a result of the unclean water they are exposed to;
• One resident revealed that on opening a tap to access water, she was met with a "slippery slimy substance emanating from the tap";
• The SAHRC was also informed by a resident that she has on occasion been met with "flesh-like substances" as if from an animal, "being excreted from the tap on opening it";
• This same resident is alleged to have experienced an illness relating to the consumption of this water;
• On accessing water, residents are met with water containing "dead flies and mosquitos, which when collected in a bucket smell foul."

It is heartening to see that the SAHRC has conducted a thorough and far-reaching investigation into the water supply issues in Brandfort, and that it has upheld in its ruling the constitutional rights to water, a clean environment and human dignity for the residents of the settlement. It is particularly noteworthy that the impact of water shortages on the livelihoods of women was recognised by the commission - especially the risk that walking to the communal taps and treatment plants placed on their personal safety.

The municipality will now be expected to:

• Furnish the SAHRC with an operations and maintenance plan required to run water supply in an efficient, effective and sustainable manner to address access to basic water challenges facing residents of the Municipality, especially women, children and other vulnerable groups within a period of three months from the date of this finding; and
• Enhance community participation and demonstrate some level of transparency in its governance by convening regular feedback sessions every three months relating to the supply of water.

The Department of Water Affairs will have to: 

• Furnish the SAHRC with a report on capacity building support provided to the municipality relating to supply of uncontaminated water to residents within six months; and
• Continue to monitor the water supply and water infrastructural improvement programmes of the municipality, and take regular water samples for testing to ensure the supply of safe and clean water.

When I met the residents of Brandfort last year, I promised them that this abuse of their human rights would not go unanswered. I have come back to the Free State today to let them know that the DA will monitor the implementation of this report closely and that we will settle for nothing short of clean, uncontaminated water for all the residents of Joe Slovo Informal Settlement.

In addition, I will request a meeting with the Mayor of Masilonyana Municipality, the Premier of the Free State, Ace Magashule, and the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, to seek clarity on what steps will now be taken by their respective governments to address the plight of the residents of Joe Slovo.

I will also use the opportunity to bring to their attention the fact that the problems of Brandfort and Joe Slovo are not isolated. In fact, this SAHRC report should serve as a wake-up call to an entire province which is failing to provide adequate clean water to its residents. 

According to information gathered by DA public representatives across the province, at least 26 towns in the Free State currently have no water at all in certain areas, water supply disruptions, or extremely unhygienic water coming from their taps. These are mainly, as is the case in Brandfort, due to water treatment plants and pipes that are falling apart.

This has a negative impact on the provision of health care in clinics and hospitals, which are struggling to keep their doors open without access to water; on education, with schools from poor communities having to discontinue their feeding schemes; and on local businesses which are regularly unable to trade.

Premier Ace Magashule must worry less about the Gupta family and protecting President Zuma's political interests in the province, and do more to ensure that his residents have their constitutional rights respected.

Our promise to the people of the Free State remains: we will continue to do everything possible, both here in the Free State Legislature, and in the National Parliament to ensure that these basic constitutional rights are delivered upon.

We will continue to hold the executive accountable until every remedial step detailed by the Human Rights Commission has been acted upon, and clean, safe water is delivered to communities across the Free State province. 

Issued by the DA, July 3 2013

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