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...

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...

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...

Inadequate service delivery is finally getting nationwide attention. On 10 June 2020, 15 radio stations broadcasting in all 11 South African official languages aired a segment on Covid-19 and informal settlements. On that day, South Africa recorded 55 421 positive...

Planact, together with eMalahleni Informal Settlement Cluster (also known as MASCOM), are concerned to learn that the Emalahleni Local Municipality is heavily indebted on its water bill. The article was published in the local newspaper, Witbank News, on 05th June 2020...

This week started with media reports that some informal settlements are now part of the list of Covid-19 hotspots. Like we have done in the last two months since the beginning of the lockdown #Asivikelane today is releasing data aimed at assisting in limiting the...

This week's results show wonderful progress in some metros, like eThekwini becoming the first metro to reach an orange light for the distribution of soap and handsanitiser and Ekurhuleni remaining the only metro to get...

Over half a million of Johannesburg’s 5.8 million people live in 181 informal settlements. The number of Covid-19 cases in the City increased rapidly from 971 on 6 May 2020 to 1,153 on 15 May 2020, a jump of 20 percent in less than 2 weeks. Shared water and toilet...

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into question the future direction in local government systems and practices. Specifically, it has presented an opportunity to reassess the participation of vulnerable communities in local government decision-making. Undoubtedly, poor...

About a week ago a municipal official contacted one of the partners of the Asivikelane network trying to find out why his municipality had still not been given the green light in our bi-weekly findings, even after they had delivered water tanks to informal...