There are now 1,158 informal settlements in Gauteng, a sharp rise of 707 compared to 2019, data from Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s office revealed on Sunday.
The stats are contained in progress reports presented to Gauteng MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs Jacob Mamabolo and shows a growing trend of informal settlements across the province.
The reports were presented during a local government turnaround event held in Sandton, Joburg, where various departments outlined progress on issues including governance, crime, sinkholes, land invasions and climate change.
Celiwe Kgowedi from Lesufi’s office introduced the Smart City portal and its integrated system, which allows the province to register, track and monitor responses to the various challenges facing Gauteng.
One of the challenge she reflected on is the number of informal structures and how they end up taking over government land and infrastructure.
“One of the modules we have developed is a land invasion monitoring tool. We started this project towards the end of 2024. Land invasion is a serious problem in the province and is costing the province a lot of money,” said Kgowedi.
According to the data there are more than 860,000 informal structures and 1,158 informal settlements. In 2019, 451 settlements were recorded.
According to the records, Tshwane is leading with 502 informal settlements, Joburg has 353, followed by Ekurhuleni with 151.
Mogale City has 89 informal settlements, while Lesedi municipality has 83, Merafong 23 and Emfuleni eight.
“It is important to note that we are not just dealing with collecting data and all that but we are monitoring data, so this tool is actually designed in a way that it becomes an early warning system for land invasion,” said Kgowedi.
“We are using satellite data to actually pick up land invasion as it happens on the ground, then the system will actually pick it up and is integrated to the hotline system that is also operating in the office of the premier. As soon as it is recorded on our system, the hotline is able to deploy people on the ground.”
Acting head in the department of community safety Roche Mogorosi said illegal land invasions remain one of the key challenges the safety and security sector is tackling in a co-ordinated manner.
“We have crafted an approach on how we, as a government, should adopt in terms of fighting land invasion and stabilising the areas that we have identified as hotspots including protection of vulnerable infrastructure.
“Key actions include collaborating with law enforcement agencies to prevent the spread of informal settlements across all municipalities.”
In his keynote address, Mamabolo welcomed the reports, saying they form part of accountability.
“This is a form of our accountability, we need to be accountable: how far have we gone, what work are we doing, what challenges are we experiencing, where we have altered and how do we move forward?
“There is lot of good work that has been presented here today [but] we have not solved the problem of the people,” Mamabolo said.
Sowetan
Herman Moloi
www.timeslive.co.za
