MaMojela park still without services

LEPHALALE - Residents of MaMojela Park are fed-up with the lack of services to the informal settlement situated just outside Lephalale. The land, which belongs to the department of Public Works, houses more than 2000 people and the settlement is growing fast due to its proximity to town. Residents live in make-shift tin houses with no electricity.
“We are speaking on behalf of the people who live in terrible conditions, we want the municipality to make true their promises to provide services to our people,” says Kenneth Manaka, secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation in Lephalale. According to Manaka, the Mayor of Lephalale, Jack Maeko, visited MaMojela Park in January and promised residents that they would soon have services.
Municipal manager, Bob Naidoo, told Northern News on Tuesday that the municipality is waiting for the formalisation process currently undertaken by the department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement & Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) to be completed. “The municipality applied for the formalisation of both MaMojela Park and the informal settlement in Steenbokpan.” 
DA Councillor, Astrid Basson, is worried however, that MaMojela Park lies below the Mogol river flood line. She told Northern News that the DA will oppose the delivery of services to MaMojela Park, due to the risk it poses to residents. “We believe that alternative land should be sought for these residents.  It is not safe for them to live there and providing services to people, knowing that their lives might be at risk is not the right thing to do.”
In response Naidoo explains that part of the formalisation process is a geo-technical analysis of the land. “CoGHSTA will, through their investigation, determine if it is safe to have a formalised settlement on the land. As soon as they give us the go-ahead we will initiate the town planning process to provide services. What we have done in the mean time is provide water tanks and portable toilets as well as refuse removal services. There is, however, a lot of pressure on the current services as the settlement grows.”