Govt warned after Mamelodi tragedy
2012-08-21 18:22
Pretoria - Government and municipalities should remove families who have built shacks on top of hazardous water supply pipes and electricity cables, the IFP said on Tuesday.
Following the tragic incident on Monday in which two children died when a main water supply pipe burst in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, the Inkatha Freedom Party said many lives were in danger.
Spokesperson Petros Sithole said: "People are erecting shacks everywhere, even in dangerous places, unaware that they are putting their lives and the lives of their children at risk".
He said government should hold awareness campaigns to teach communities about the dangers of erecting shacks on hazardous land, and how to identify this land, to avoid further losses of life.
"Most importantly, the government should speed up the process of building proper houses for impoverished people. We cannot allow our people to keep dying like this," said Sithole.
"It is saddening to learn of incidents where people die in shacks while government is still making promises to build people better houses," he said.
The IFP urged government to carry the cost of the funerals of the two children who died as a result of the burst water pipe.
On Monday, Tshwane emergency services spokesperson Johan Pieterse said it was believed that the 4-year-old and 4-month-old had drowned.
Another person was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
More than 800 people were evacuated when the pipe burst around 01:00 on Monday.
Pieterse said about six shacks had been erected directly above the pipes which ran underground at the informal settlement.
The two children were inside one of these shacks when the pipe burst.
- SAPA
