Ekurhuleni has been the best performing metro since Asivikelane started a year ago. But even so, its traffic lights are not consistently green and there are many informal settlements that experience persistent water, sanitation and refuse removal problems. But this...
On the surface, Asivikelane #17 traffic lights appear bad. But if you take the time to look closely, you will see many green shoots of service delivery improvement starting to sprout. New toilets were built, and taps were installed in Buffalo City. Taps were repaired,...
None of the metros’ 2021/22 budgets set aside funds specifically for the maintenance of informal settlement infrastructure. The result is that heavily used taps and toilets are not fixed when they break. Metro budgets also show no growth in allocations for the ad hoc...
Asivikelane has conducted interviews with informal settlement residents in 13 municipalities. The purpose of these interviews was to find answers to the following questions since the inception of the #Asivikelane campaign and its impact on the lives of informal...
Asivikelane #15 results show that upgrading projects are failing to deliver. Half of residents have been promised, but failed to receive, access to services. Asivikelane has observed the following in various Metros across the country: Most metro budgets for...
Water, sanitation and refuse removal services in informal settlements have deteriorated all over the country in the last few months. As national Covid-19 relief funding to metros has run out and metros’ own revenue has declined, they have started reducing services to...
Asivikelane 14 reports that water, sanitation and refuse removal services in informal settlements have deteriorated all over the country in the last few months. As national COVID-19 relief funding to metros has run out and metros’ own revenues have declined, they have...
Local governments must table their budgets for the 2021/2022 financial year by 1 April 2021. They have played a central role in government’s COVID-19 response in informal settlements, with additional resources being found for water tanks, chemical toilets and refuse...
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, 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...
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...