Vrygrond land occupiers defiant
Backyarders in Vrygrond near Muizenberg have vowed to continue building shacks on a piece of land that they have occupied because they cannot “afford to pay rent” anymore.
Backyarders in Vrygrond near Muizenberg have vowed to continue building shacks on a piece of land that they have occupied because they cannot “afford to pay rent” anymore.
In 2011, the informal settlement of Bhungeni in Butterworth in the Eastern Cape was demolished to make way for a shopping mall and the residents were relocated to a transit camp erected by the Department of Human Settlements. They remain to this day in this camp they called Eugene and no shopping mall has been built on the land they vacated.
The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape provincial government has stated that it will not buy land from Ross Demolition to build houses for Siqalo residents as the land is “not fit for human habitation”.
The conflict between the Siqalo and Mitchell’s Plain communities flared up late on Thursday, despite the suspension by Siqalo of their protest action. Police fired on a gathering of Mitchell’s Plain residents, killing one and wounding two.
Unions and communities marched against the steep tariff increases that the City of Cape Town is proposing.
Zwelethu Occupation Movement from Khayelitsha picketed outside provincial police headquarters demanding justice for murdered leaders.
On Human Rights Day, communities from informal settlements in Cape Town marched for land for housing.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled in favour of residents of Endumeni in Northern KwaZulu-Natal who have been waiting for nearly two decades to receive RDP houses. The court found the conduct of the municipality was unconstitutional.
Colchester in the Eastern Cape is a true reflection of South Africa. You have the rich living in townhouses and not so far you have Endlovini Informal Settlement that has poor services because political parties are busy politicking.
Four years on, after the project to build houses started at Unit P township in Mdantsane, residents still label the RDP housing development as a “project of corruption”.
“Now we like animals because we do not know where we belong. How can we live like foreigners in our country? We do not have a councillor here because of this situation. Service delivery is very bad here”
Residents of Ducats near East London in the Eastern Cape spent many years living in the shacks. In 2003, they were very happy when they were told that a construction company had been hired to build RDP houses for them. 625 Houses were supposed to be built in this township. But the houses for 64 families did not materialise. 42 houses were left unfinished and 22 houses have never been built at all.