Planact together with International Budget Partnership South Africa conducted a survey to compare the lived experience by eMalahleni informal settements communities with the municipal water schedule. The survey shows that: The number of tanks in the municipal water...
Prepared by Wetu Memela and Hloniphile Simelane “We thought we had rights, we thought we had dignity, but when they leave open sewerage all over the settlements are we considered as human beings?” Nobantu Shabangu, Middelburg, Whilst the lockdown has...
We thank government, CSO partners and above all informal settlement residents for their work on Asivikelane and informal settlement services in 2020. In this release we think out loud about what government and Asivikelane should do about informal settlement services...
We, at Planact, are fortunate to have met and shared our social audit work with the out-going Auditor-General of South Africa, Kimi Makwetu, who has since passed on. We are truly saddened by his untimely death and would like to extend our deepest condolences to his...
Hloniphile Simelane [Opinion] In July 2004, at their meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, heads of the member states of the African Union made a declaration to actively promote the implementation of legislation that strengthens women’s land, property, and inheritance...
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...
"The Talk with Speaker of Council" joins global voices in the Virtual Urban Festival hosted by the South African Cities Network in Partnership with Cogta, CTIN, and Media Lab. Planact Programme Coordinator, Mike Makwela is part of the Panelist.
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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 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...
Asivikelane reiterates its call for government to take the lead in ensuring access to clean sanitation facilities in informal settlement communities as the country observes its Covid-19 peak. Every two weeks since the beginning of the lockdown Asivikelane has been...
The provision of sanitation in metro informal settlements has not improved and remains at crisis levels everywhere except Ekurhuleni. This situation should be addressed urgently in order to slow down the exponential spread of Covid-19 in the informal settlements of...
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...