Cape Town - The City of Cape Town on Thursday said it had been vindicated by a decision by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) which overturned an earlier decision which had found that the City had not provided proper sanitation services to informal settlements.
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said the Chairperson of the National SAHRC, Adv. Mabedle Lawrence Mushwana had upheld the City’s appeal against the findings of the Western Cape Provincial HRC last year.
“In that now discredited finding, the Provincial HRC made a number of allegations and baseless statements regarding the City of Cape Town’s provision of sanitation services,” De Lille said. “Furthermore, it had conducted its investigation into the complaint, which was originally laid by the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), in a manner that was procedurally improper.
“The City disputed the findings immediately, in light of the fact that as a metro authority, we have a nation-leading record of sanitation provision for all areas of the city, including informal settlements,” De Lille added. “This is part of our commitment to ensuring a positive realisation of the rights of all residents.”
De Lille said: “Adv. Mushwana’s findings demonstrate that the City was treated unfairly and that the findings had no merit. We have a mission to create a caring and inclusive city and one that tries to redress the wrongs of the past with positive reconciliation by cross-subsidising services to the poor - more than anywhere else in the country.”
ANA