Zuko Komisa
SAHRC in Gauteng reports to have received over 1 500 complaints in the past year.
The Gauteng Human Rights Commission has revealed that they received 1,500 complaints in the last year alone.
According to Zamantungwa Mbeki who spoke to Point of View with Phemelo Motene, the provincial manager of the Gauteng SAHRC, the municipality is responding very slowly and the problems are particularly common in the townships.
Listen to the full conversation here:
The Commission informed the media on Wednesday of issues they have looked at, including the cholera situation in Hammanskraal, problems with the province’s hospitals, and infrastructure issues.
Amongst these, the Commission stated that they had witnessed a substantial rise in water shortages and sewage spills in the Emfuleni region in recent months, from the widespread cholera outbreak in Tshwane to the terrible sewage spill in Emfuleni that left residents wallowing in a swamp of dirty, untreated water.
Zamantungwa Mbeki emphasized that there’s a tendency is many communities in the province to gatekeep information on permanent issues and that a better communication strategy needs to be put in place by municipalities.
“We need a greater communication strategy across the board on how people access information. If I go to my municipality before I go and protest, there should be something as simple as a noticeboard. The ward councilor should be able to call a community meeting, how do I go through the community policing forum, and all the subgroups such as SANCO as well as organizations. All the need to stop gatekeeping information, which sometimes happens in many communities.”
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