Blog Articles
Asivikelane 12 Results: Metros could budget more for informal settlement services.
While national government reduced conditional grants to some metros, they all benefited from the R11 billion increase in equitable share funding in the national adjustments budget approved in August. Consequently, we see an overall increase in spending, but not for...
Triumph in U N I T Y – Exciting developments in Masakhane and Benicon in Emalahleni, Mpumalanga.
This week, the Planact team is spending time in Witbank/ Emalahleni in Mpumalanga with journalists from Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism to support them with capturing stories on the inadequate basic service delivery in the informal settlement communities we...
Emalahleni Cluster Back to Normal Business
The Emalahleni Informal Settlement Cluster (MASCOM) held its first physical meeting last week in Masakhane after a long break since declaration of the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. The Cluster meeting was held on 08 October 2020 under strict adherence to lockdown...
Asivikelane no.11 Results: The next Covid-19 wave will start in informal settlements.
Up to 45% of informal settlement residents contracted the coronavirus in the first wave. This is not surprising because they are sharing dirty taps and toilets. The sharp increase in the number of red traffic lights in Asivikelane 11 makes us worry that the second...
Asivikelane 10 results: Clean taps and toilets will curb the spread of Covid-19 infections
Asivikelane has reported many persistent service delivery problems in informal settlements – some of which have yet not been addressed. This month we also asked residents whether anyone in their households has lost their jobs in the last 4 months. Sadly, but...
Billions allocated for service delivery in Mpumalanga municipalities poured into a leaky local government system
The latest financial audit performance snapshot on municipalities in Mpumalanga province highlights a systemic decline according to the latest Auditor-General’s report titled Not much to go around, yet not the right hands. “The audit outcomes indicate that...
Consolidating recommendations to strengthen advocacy for improved community participation
Advocating improved public participation in local government underpins one of Planact’s projects in partnership with informal settlement clusters in Ekurhuleni and Emalahleni municipalities. Planact’s success in building capacity of these informal settlement clusters...
Asivikelane 9 results: Clean taps and toilets will curb the spread of Covid-19 infections
Asivikelane 9 shows that providing clean taps and toilets in informal settlements could be the most effective way of reducing Covid-19 infections. Informal settlements are hotspots for infection because they don't have enough taps and toilets, and these communal...
Asivikelane results no 8: Women are scared to use shared taps and toilets.
This week a new question about public lighting was added on the report with a focus on gender. Two thirds of Asivikelane participants are women and most of them say that there is not enough public lighting in their informal settlements. while most metros now...
Water is life campaign
Why is the #MetsiKeBophelo (Water Is Life) campaign necessary? Access to water is a constitutional right in South Africa, not a privilege. According to research[i], 1 in 3 people in South Africa don’t have access to safe or reliable water. That’s about 20 million...