Statement by Geordin Hill-Lewis – Leader of the Democratic Alliance and DA Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate, Helen Zille, following an inspection of the Nancefield Sewer Pump Station, Maxwell Court and the Helen Joseph Women’s Hostel in Johannesburg today:
Today, DA Federal Leader Geordin Hill-Lewis and DA Johannesburg Mayoral Candidate Helen Zille inspected the Nancefield Sewer Pump Station, Maxwell Court and the Helen Joseph Women’s Hostel.
At Nancefield, decades of neglect have turned a vital piece of public infrastructure into a “Niagara Falls of sewage” with raw waste cascading into the sewerage wetlands while nearby business are expected to live with the stench, danger and indignity.
A formal complaint to the Public Protector will be submitted on Monday following these oversight meetings and visits.
The complaint asks her office to investigate the continuing failure of the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements to provide basic services, account for public expenditure and implement the remedial action ordered in the 2021 Alexandra Report.
Thousands of residents in Johannesburg still live with raw sewage, unsafe municipal housing and collapsing infrastructure while responsibility is passed from one institution to another.
We have asked the Public Protector to conduct a systemic investigation, inspect the affected sites, secure urgent interim action where residents face immediate health and safety risks, and audit compliance with the remedial action ordered five years ago.
We have also asked her office to obtain the missing forensic, financial and implementation records relating to the Alexandra Renewal Project and the Helen Joseph Women’s Hostel, and to pursue referrals to the SIU, the National Prosecuting Authority and the Auditor-General wherever the evidence warrants them.
Government must keep clean water flowing, contain sewage, maintain public housing, remove refuse and account honestly for every rand entrusted to it.
South Africans are tired of years of delay and failure to explain where public money went.
The people of Johannesburg deserve a government that acts before neglect becomes normal and responds before a crisis becomes permanent.
A DA-led government in Johannesburg will make transparent delivery plans, measurable deadlines and real consequence management the rule across the City, not the exception.
Johannesburg does not need another explanation for failure. It needs change and the DA is ready to deliver it come November.
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