The City of Tshwane is set to upgrade the Marry Me informal settlement in Soshanguve, where six patrollers were fatally shot last week.

The upgrade will include the installation of basic services such as water and electricity, as part of a broader initiative to improve living conditions in informal settlements across the municipality.

During Thursday's ordinary council meeting, MMC for Agriculture and Environmental Management, Obakeng Ramabodu, expressed gratitude that residents of the settlement will soon benefit from upcoming development projects.

“The people of Marry Me have raised the problem of formalisation and I am glad that the City has committed to deal with issues of formalisation and not because people have died. It was something that we were busy with in other areas,” he said.

He expressed disappointment that the community will only start to receive basic services after people had died.

Ramabodu said: “Marry Me people are the victims of service delivery. That is why people have died in that area; part of the reason why they were killed is because they were fighting to protect the community. If there was efficient policing visibility at Marry Me, those people were not going to die.”

Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya said the recent events at the informal settlement should serve as a wake up call for all leaders, prompting them to reexamine their conscience and take responsibility for addressing the pressing issues faced by these communities.

“The plight of the informal settlements need us to be united to uplift their lives. Many of our ward councillors have been complaining (about the existence of informal settlements). We have talked about the rise of the number of informal settlements from 220 in 2019 to over 500 (currently). It pains me that we don’t even supply services to half of those informal settlements,” she said.

She said the multiparty government has resolved to expedite the service delivery interventions to mitigate the plight of informal settlements residents.

“We are asking the council to rally behind these efforts so that we can put social justice at the centre of the agenda of this council,” he said.

Ward 89 councillor Tshepo Malefane said the plan of the city is to build houses for residents in the informal settlement.

As part of the upcoming development initiatives, he said the area has been formally proclaimed as Extension 24, effectively changing its official name from Marry Me.

“We are now waiting for the Gauteng provincial government together with the municipality to build houses for this community. The proposed RDP houses on the plan are 1,600 and 800 flats for the two squatter camps, which are Marry Me and Leseding View,” he said.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced on Wednesday that the government has successfully acquired the land designated for development from private property owners.

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Shooting deaths prompt development plans for Marry Me informal settlement