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13 000 COPIES WEEKLY WEDNESDAY, May 1, 2013

KwaNobuhle EDITOR: BETTIE GILIOMEE

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Stats Stats SA SA reveals reveals

Silvertown the worst township in SA

Illegal electrical connections is a common sight in Silvertown, which according to Stats SA, is the worst township to live in in the country. PHOTO: THEO JEPTHA

HELGA VAN STAADEN

T

HE informal settlement Silvertown in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropole is the worst township in the country.

This was announced by Pali Lehohla, Statistician General of Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), on Monday. “Silvertown is far worse than any other place in South Africa,” said Lehohla. In Silvertown there are about 1 775 people in 508 households. Approximately 96% of residents use the bucket toilet system, while only 3% of people have flush toilets. This is in contrast to the national average of 2 out of every 100 people who make use of the bucket toilet system,

Lehohla pointed out. Here 82% of people are living in shacks and 82% of them use paraffin as a source of energy. By contrast, 77% of the adjacent neighbourhood, Kwazakhele, has access to electricity, while 85% of all households in the country have access to electricity, Lehohla said. A plus point is that 74% of Silvertown’s residents have access to potable water (through communal taps) compared with no access to water in 1996. The neighbourhood is poor and 48% of the population have no access to any form of income. Mabel Kula (59) has lived in Silvertown for 25 years and dreams about having lights at the flip of a switch in her home. She does not complain because she fetches water from a com-

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munal tap, as it is located close to her shack. “I was shocked to hear that our township is the worst in the country. We also want houses and electricity,” Kula said. Kula’s neighbour, Margaret Jantjies (57), prefers that the municipality first supply electricity to their shacks before building formal houses in the area. According to the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro’s integrated development plan there are 23 000 households that use the bucket toilet system. Furthermore, the housing backlog is approximately 80 000 units. Leon de Villiers, DA caucus leader in the metro, said the municipality’s statistics for the bucket toilet system is based on the bucket toilets that they service and not the other approximately 15 000 bucket toilets used by resi-

dents that squat on private ground. “It is unacceptable to expect people to make use of the humiliating bucket toilet system. The metro’s single strategy for eradicating the bucket toilet system with the supply of houses is inadequate and will take over 20 years to complete.” Kupido Baron, municipal spokesperson, said in defence that overcrowding hampered development in the area. “We concede that the plan to improve the lives of the residents of the area over the years was thwarted by various obstacles,” he said. “Some of the families need to be moved to Wells Estate to provide enough space for the construction of houses. The community is against moving because they want to remain in Silvertown,” said Baron.

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