After months of uncertainty, Gauteng provincial government has announced it will go ahead with a massive project to eliminate asbestos roofing in the entire province.
Yesterday, Gauteng human settlements MEC Jacob Mamabolo told The Times that provincial government had already spent R500-million on studies and consultation of scale of the project, how asbestos could be removed and the possible replacement material.
“The report that is done will go to the executive council in the province and be presented to the Premier formally. Then there will be discussion in exco (executive committee), to say that now that the assessment has been done and completed, what should be the way forward,” Mamabolo said.
In February last year, the Gauteng department of human settlements presented its proposal of eradicating the asbestos in the province to its portfolio committee. At the time, the committee raised concerns about that cost implications of the project were not determined and scale of the programme was unclear.
The department has commissioned a comprehensive study which would determine cost implication and the actual scale of prevalence of asbestos in the province.
Since then, there has not been no indication if the Gauteng government is proceeding with the initiative and that raised speculation that the initiative might have been too ambitious.
In March 2008, then environmental affairs and tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced that the use, manufacture and procession of asbestos was prohibited in South Africa with immediate effect.
In the eradication of asbestos, the department plans to prioritise poor communities and households in the lower income bracket in this project. This will include people who have been given title deeds for their houses.
At present, townships are the ones with the most number of houses with asbestos roofs as this was the material used by the apartheid government in four rooms and other housing structures.
While the department could come out clear as to what will be the replacement material, tiles remained “the ideal”.
Dr Jim Te Water Naude, public health medicine specialist, commended the move and said gutters and downpipes made of asbestos should also be removed.
Te Water Naude said although not safe, an asbestos roof carried a low risk of asbestos related disease.
But when cracked or damaged the little fibre can become airborne and people could breathe them and that leads to diseases such as asbestos cancer and asbestos fibrosis – scarring in the lungs.
He warned that biggest risk now was on the workers who will remove the asbestos roofs from houses.
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