FLOOD DAMAGES PUT SPOTLIGHT ON INSUFFICIENT INFRASTRUCTURE

BY ALDERMAN GERT PRETORIUS,DA LEADER IN THE TSHWANE METRO COUNCIL

During the week following New Year scores of residents in the north of Pretoria were washed out of their homes by heavy rains in the area. Hammanskraal seems to have been one of the worst affected areas. Furniture and personal belongings were apparently lost or damaged. Residents interviewed by the media expressed their dissatisfaction with the ANC-led Tshwane Metro Council and blamed it for their losses. They allegedly claimed that the council had failed to address their problems.
A week later, the Pretoria News headline screamed: “Wall crushes toddler to death”. According to the article, a three year old orphaned boy was killed after heavy rains caused a wall to collapse in Winterveld (about 30km north of Pretoria).This occurred on Sunday, 9 January 2011.
Once again, members of the community blamed the government for the tragedy. They complained that they had to live in mud shacks whilst waiting for RDP houses. A community leader is quoted as having said: “Just early in the afternoon before the accident, we were with the member of the mayoral committee (MMC) and we told him that the houses were not safe as it was raining but it seemed as though our pleas fell on deaf ears”.
How many more properties must be damaged and/or destroyed or even worse, lives lost, before the Mayor and his committee take firm steps to address the issue? We in the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Tshwane Metro Council understand what it is to have our pleas fall on deaf ears. Whilst we are limited in the actions we can take, the community can do something positive. There is really no place for suffering in a democracy – Give the DA a chance to govern Tshwane and vote for change during the forthcoming municipal elections.