By Mzukona Mantshontsho
On the remainder of portion 47 of the Farm Zandspruit 191 IQ on Beyer’s Naude’ Drive is a squatter camp as old as our democracy called Zandspruit Informal Settlement in the North of Johannesburg.
The informal settlement is marred by under-development, unemployment, poverty, health hazards in the form of illegal dumping by community members & companies nearby, the outside toilets are not emptied regularly, substance & drug abuse, illegal shebeens, crime, the non-delivery of housing and no electricity.
Zandspruit Informal Settlement falls under Ward 114 Region C of the City of Johannesburg Ward 114 comprises of places like Northgate, Northriding, Honeydew, Sundowner, Randpark Ridge and Zandspruit Informal Settlement lags behind in terms of development.
With an estimated population of +/- 100,000, half of which is unemployed, 38% foreign nationals, another portion of the population having had RDP houses provided to them from other areas: making it 75% of this population not qualifying for RDP houses.
The view is that there is a serious need for a mindset shift from community members and the leadership in Zandspruit to see the need for change in the community.
This should be followed by meaningful public consultation and fixing the broken relationship between ANC Ward 114 Councillor and the leadership, so that Zandspruit Informal Settlement can have one voice behind the councillor and get the much-needed services delivered.
All the sections in the informal settlement do have water; unfortunately, some of the water pipes are stolen by community members, which begs the question of where accountability will come from. Street committees are there in the community, but the theft seems to be happening regardless.
In line with the vision of the South African Department of Health of, ‘A Long and Healthy Life for ALL South Africans’, and following the first official launch of “Healthy Lifestyles in South Africa” on Saturday 4 May 2013 at Thokoza Park in Soweto, stressing the fact that prevention is better than cure, Emthonjeni Community Centre, in Zandspruit Informal Settlement is there to provide community members with various health screenings, counselling services, measles and polio immunisations, HIV/AIDS testing and counselling, Tuberculosis(TB) education and Non-communicable diseases information sessions.
Proper sanitation is a major concern as the outside toilets are not emptied regularly by the City of Johannesburg. Housing is a serious talking point.
With proper community involvement, the community being vigilant not to add to the existing numbers into the informal settlement, blocking the way for essential service providers like the sewage trucks to have access and clean the VIP toilets introduced in 2005, housing and toilets will remain a problem.
Drug concoction ‘Nyaope’ is rife in the area, and residents even know the places that sell the drug, but there are no structures to do away with this bad habit in the area, affecting the youth and increasing theft for these young people to feed their bad habits. There is relief that there is a police station next to the informal settlement.
There are no recreational facilities at all in the area. Learners in the area attend Masakhane and Zandspruit Primary School and move to one of the four high schools in Cosmo City called Far North Secondary School (8150 Corner Ukraine & South Africa Drive, extension 7, Cosmo City) which serves the Zandspruit Informal Settlement community since its establishment in 2014.
Far North Secondary School is a Quantile one school with a feeding scheme. It has four Grade eight classes, four Grade nine classes, five Grade 10 and three Grade 11 classes and in 2016 will grow into Grade 12.
When the school was established in 2014, there were 713 learners with 45- 50 learners per class and 16 classrooms in total. The school had over 800 learners in 2015. The school has no school library, hall and playing fields for the learners. Learners travel by buses from Zandspruit Informal Settlement to school every day, a 10-minute drive. Learners’ ages range between 13 and 19 years.
Conclusion
Zandspruit Informal Settlement is as old as our democracy and the fact that 30 years down the line, we still have concerns around housing, unemployment, under-development, poverty, crime, drug & substance abuse, crime and no electricity.
There is a serious need for the current leadership to work together with the councillor and not against to deliver services.
S
