“Minister Sisulu must clarify misrepresentation by senior department official” – Mayor Mashaba
Last Monday, 10 June 2019, the Executive Mayor of the City of Joburg, Councillor Herman Mashaba wrote to the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, to express “deep concerns in respect of misrepresentations made by Mr Neville Chainee, the Department’s Deputy Director General, with regard to allocations made to the City for Alexandra”.
In a TV interview preceding Mayor Mashaba’s written letter, Mr Chainee states: “The City of Joburg, we give them about, what, R1.7 billion every year which is specifically aimed at addressing issues of water and sanitation”.
This comment was made in response to the graphic depiction of the sanitation conditions in Alexandra.
Mayor Mashaba said: “It goes without saying that there are deep and historic service delivery challenges which have been experienced by the people of Alex.
“That is why, I initiated a forensic investigation into the Alexandra Renewal Project, so that those responsible for looting the state’s resources and denying residents of years of service delivery can be held to account. This said, as I am sure the Minister is undoubtedly aware, the only kind of grant figure contained in the City’s balance sheet which resembles this allocation is our Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG).
He added that the usage of the USDG allocations to Municipalities is regulated for infrastructure projects relating to urban settlement.
The City of Joburg said that while this does include water and sanitation, it is not “specifically aimed at addressing issues of water and sanitation,” as stated by the Mr Chainee. Its intended usage also includes electricity and roads, to cite two very significant examples.
Mayor Mashaba called Chainee’s response “highly problematic in the impression it gives that these funds are somehow exclusively available to Alexandra, when they are required across the City of Johannesburg”.
He said grant funding provided to the City is “woefully inadequate for meeting our needs”.
Contained in his letter to Minister Sisulu, the Mayor sought clarity on:
- Whether USDG funding is “specifically aimed at addressing issues of water and sanitation” or whether this is a gross simplification of its usage, excluding electricity and roads by way examples;
- Whether USDG funding is provided exclusively for any one specific settlement;
- Whether the Minister would care to venture her opinion as to whether the USDG allocations to the City of Johannesburg could have, realistically, resolved its entire infrastructure backlogs to date, including those of sanitation in Alexandra; and
- Whether she would address the misleading statements made by Mr Chainee to determine whether he is unaware of the stipulations around USDG or whether his statements were intended to mislead?
Mayor Mashaba also revealed that he had requested the City Manager, Dr Ndivho Lukhwareni, to write to the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), to summon Mr Chainee to explain his misleading statement around this important issue.
