Some families who the City of Johannesburg moved from one shack to another say while they are happy and don’t live in squalor and without water and electricity, they still want proper houses.
The city has so far moved 40 families from Kapok, Mazibuko and Precast informal settlements to newly built structures in Roodepoort Farm, Lenasia, south of Joburg.
The rollout is part of the city’s upgrading of informal settlements programme.
According to the city, 1,078 beneficiaries from the three settlements will benefit from the project.
A community leader from Precast informal settlement, Thabiso Mofetane, said while they welcome the plan to decongest informal settlements, people still need proper housing.
“We don’t mind being moved from one shack to another but we still want proper housing,” she said.
While the 40 families were moved to shacks made of corrugated sheets in June, it was decided to change the building material after realising that the ones they had built already could easily be blown away by wind.
The city is now using chromadek with insulated wall panels for the structures.
When Sowetan visited the site on Thursday, there were five foundations and one structure which was on display.
The structure has a concrete floor, one window and an empty space which is not divided. The area has been electrified, with water and sewage to follow.
MMC for housing Mlungisi Mabaso visited the area on Wednesday to monitor the status of the project.
“With us it is not about being moved from shack to shack, it is all about the land that we are getting which is where we can grow … but we also want the government to understand that we are expecting housing,” Mofetane said.
“But we know that housing might take forever and that is what some people are waiting for.”
Mabaso said the city was moving people out of dangerous areas and giving them more dignified homes.
With us it is not about being moved from shack to shack, it is all about the land that we are getting which is where we can grow … but we also want the government to understand that we are expecting housing.
“We are moving them out of structures that easily get burnt and we are moving people outside areas where there aren’t any services,” he said.
He said the project was worth R63m, with R40m expenditure to date. “We are giving them permanent stands which are fully serviced,” he said.
Mabaso said the project started with corrugated iron being used but was later rejected “because in a way it was creating another informal settlement”.
“The structure that is onsite was the one that was introduced, and which was accepted by the beneficiaries.
“The structure is beautiful and is along the material of alternative building technology and it is able to contain fire for an hour before it starts to spread.
“These ones are not shacks – they are very different because we use alternative building technology,” he said.
A resident who was moved from Precast to the new area said life was much better now. “We do want proper housing but where we are now is much better [than where we come from] because we have electricity,” said Lwandile Mpitsha.
“We have our own stand, compared to the life we used to live, where we used to share one stand with three other families. The illegal electricity we had damaged a lot of our electronics including TVs and radio, our fridge is no longer working. Yes, we do want houses but we are happy with what we have because we understand houses will take longer.”
Moeketsi Mofokeng, a community leader from Mazibuko informal settlement who was on site on Thursday, said the new structures were safer compared to the ones the city had previously built.
“This is an open field, so the wind tends to be very strong, the plan was to do shacks, but when there was wind, there were a lot of shacks that were blown away by the wind.
“Our communities are happy with the Cromadek, it doesn’t have noise, and the safety is great because it can’t be blown away. It has strength, it is the new technology that is being used,” he said.
“The communities are quite happy and if the area that we live in puts our lives in danger you will settle for what you are being given at the time while hustling for a better life. All we want is our own stands and take it from there.”
Sibusiso Mthethwa, 37, was also moved to the new area and lives with his wife and son.
“What makes me happy is that we have proper electricity – the illegal electricity connections were very dangerous. This area is much safer. We are not even worried that our appliances such as TVs and microwaves will get burnt because of the connections.
“We are happy here. The fact that they moved us from one shack to another shack does not bother me. As long as we have permanent stands where we can build our homes. It doesn’t matter whether they put in this one or the shiny or modern ones, but we are just glad we will be receiving some service delivery.”
