Central SA
Living conditions in North West reported to SAHRC─── TSHEHLA KOTELI 10:04 Thu, 23 Mar 2023
As the end of Human Rights Month approaches, some residents in the North West are still living in raw sewage.
On Human Rights Day, 21 March 2023, the Democratic Alliance in the province revealed that they have laid several complaints with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) because of the living conditions of the residents in Mahikeng and Ratlou Local Municipalities.
Starting in the Mahikeng Local Municipality, the DA’s Freddy Sonakile said residents who reside close to the Bophelong Hospital are living in filth due to raw sewage leaking from the Waste Water Treatment plant situated within the hospital grounds. He alleges the raw sewage flows from the hospital to neighbouring homes and it has been an issue for at least a year. While some are battling with raw sewage, the hospital has to deal with a dumping site that is allegedly a stone’s throw away.
Sonakile says the dumping site does not adhere to the basic norms and standards. “The dumping site was built next to a hospital, not only creating a health hazard to the families residing next to the hospital but to patients as well.”
Still, within the Mahikeng Municipality, Sonakile further explained there are at least 29 RDP houses in Louisdal and Mooipan that have not been completed for the past 10 years. “These houses have been incomplete for 10 years, scattered throughout surrounding villages. Yet the government has already registered beneficiaries to occupy the homes,” he added. Sonakile stressed that while 29 families remain without decent homes, the structures of those houses are on the brink of collapse as they have been standing for over a decade with no plan from the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements, and Traditional Affairs on how they intend to rectify this violation.
Moving over to the Ratlou Local Municipality, he stated that residents in the Matloding Village are still living in mud houses, which he regards as a grave human rights violation.
Residents of Mathateng are also suffering the same fate, having lived in Ratlou for over a decade without any basic services like clean water supply, electricity, and maintained roads.
