Metros battle to meet service delivery demands

JOHANNESBURG - Urban migration has presented countless problems for South Africa's metros to accommodate the influx of people to the country's economic zones, municipalities are urged to prioritise infrastructure investments.

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Different departments have to work in tandem to provide residents with adequate services, top of which is housing, water and sanitation, electricity, and education.

But years of human settlement neglect has resulted in urban decay, and hijacked buildings that lack essential services. 

In a quest for a better life, large numbers of South Africans migrate from rural areas to the cities.

But years of failing to keep up with arriving numbers, have put municipalities under severe strain.

Water and Sanitation DG Sean Philips said, "With increased rural to urban people movement, there's been many more, there's been many plans to build pipes and sewerage systems in the towns and cities, but unfortunately municipalities haven't paid sufficient attention to investing and upgrading their water treatment works, which means that many of the waste water treatments in the urban areas are overloaded with sewerage, putting untreated sewerage into our rivers  "

This has a knock-on effect on several socio-economic levels.

In Gauteng, the Education Department is faced with overcrowding in the classrooms. 

Gauteng Department of Basic Education spokesperson Steve Mabona said, "This year I can assure you that we have recorded ten thousand more of new applications compared to what we had last year an last year we recorded more compared to the previous year, we anticipate more numbers but we call upon patience, because as intervention, we will increase the number of classes 145 across the province."

Civil society groups say the need for social housing has been apparent for many years, but government has nothing concrete to solve this problem.

Outa's Ali Gule said, "The city must get involved all the stakeholders, the private sector, civil societies, but this problem exerts a lot of pressure on the city, with illegal connection of water, illegal electricity connections and the law abiding citizens who pay for services end up caught in the crossfire as well."

Johannesburg, once called the city of gold, has historically been a magnet to migrants from all over Southern Africa but these days, the city seems to have lost that attraction.