The Gauteng government has dismissed claims suggesting survivors and families of the victims of the Boksburg explosion have been neglected.
Sunday marked exactly a year since 41 people were killed by a massive gas tanker blast near the Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni.
The publication visited some of the survivors, who expressed disappointment in what they described as the government’s reluctance to cushion them from the after-effects of the blast.
The explosion left homes in the vicinity of the blast severely damaged.
The publication can confirm that there are a number of homes in the area that are yet to be fully repaired.
But the Gauteng government’s Size Pamla insists the victims were offered assistance to repair their homes.
He dismissed suggestions the provincial government was a no-show.
“Families that were affected in terms of their houses, some of the infrastructure was replaced. There was cooperation by various layers of government to replace windows, rooftops and [to ensure] structural safety.”
Pamla said survivors were also offered psycho-social support, and financing to bury their loved ones, and the bodies of foreign nationals who were killed by the blast were repatriated.
But he added that some of the victims were expecting financial support, which he said the government was not mandated to offer.
-EWN
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