Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi done announced a big plan to help uplift Township Informal Settlements and Hostels (TISH) all over the province.
During his State of the Province Address (SOPA) on Monday, he talked about how important townships are to Gauteng’s identity but also said they’re in a really bad condition right now.
“Our townships show who we are and where we come from. They are special places but they’re in a bad state,” he said.
Lesufi’s main idea is the “iCrush le Lova” program, which aims to empower people living in townships while making their living conditions better.
“We’re going to do this big program by getting more than 40,000 unemployed township residents trained as artisans, bricklayers, electricians, and plumbers through a program called “iCrush le Lova”. These unemployed folks will go to TVET colleges and SETA programs for training and support, and once they’re done, we’ll help them find jobs.”
Lesufi also said they’re planning to fix up the old four-room houses in townships, starting with families who don’t have much.
He said this plan will also help grow the database of South African architects, hardware stores, building suppliers, and contractors in townships.
“We’ll train and skill up unemployed people in townships to be part of this plan. We’re also starting to fix up the old four-room houses in townships, starting with families who don’t have much.”
He also mentioned that work has already started at more than six hostels in the city, with a lot of work done at Jeppe Hostel and George Goch Hostel.
These hostels now have free WiFi, CCTV cameras, and mobile clinics.
To make sure everyone in townships has access to the internet, Premier Lesufi said it’s really important.
With help from Telkom, Herotel, and Broadband Infraco, more than 50 townships now have broadband, and they’re planning to bring it to all townships in Gauteng.
“In this term, we’ve put money into making our internet better with the Gauteng Provincial Network. We’ve extended networks to over 1,200 places, set up LAN in 719 spots, and gave 344 sites voice capabilities.”
Looking forward, the government wants to make sure every public place, school, healthcare center, and state office has good WiFi.
To fix the bad roads in townships, Premier Lesufi said they’re going to work on 120 roads in different TISH areas.
That means 40 in Ekurhuleni, 40 in the West Rand, and 40 in other informal settlements in Gauteng.
He also said the government will keep helping TISH communities with clean-up projects and planting trees to make the places nicer.
“We’ll get this right if our communities also do their bit to keep the province clean, by not littering or dumping trash,” he said, adding that if municipalities can’t do it, the government will step in to fix water and sanitation problems.
Talking about the many informal settlements in Gauteng, Premier Lesufi said they want to turn them into better places to live.
He said they’re planning to upgrade 68 informal settlements and move people to better areas. There are about 700 informal settlements in Gauteng.
This includes moving people into big housing projects.
“During this time, we moved over 2000 families from 20 informal settlements into completed housing projects. We also provided basic services to 64 informal settlements and better services to 16,” Lesufi said.
By Thabo Bodibe
