Homeless people moved to Blikkiesdorp by the City of Cape Town before the World Cup in 2010 say they were better off living under a bridge than they are in the temporary relocation area.
Simon Lule, 36, from Tanzania, lived under a bridge in Woodstock. He said Blikkiesdorp is just a “dump site”.
“They don’t care about us as long as we’re off the street. There’s no service for us… This place is not safe, we’re suffering,” said Lule.
Blikkiesdorp was designed as “temporary emergency accommodation” for a period of about seven years.
Ernest Sonnenberg, mayoral council member for human settlements, said the 1 742 structures in Blikkiesdorp housed about four to five people each.
“An additional 75 units have been built for qualifying emergency cases,” said Sonnenberg.
Lule said Blikkiesdorp residents got little to no services from the city.
“A house in the corner of P Block was burning and we called for the fire engine… no one came. Residents put out the fire,” said Lule.
Moegamad Titus, 52, who also lived under a bridge in Woodstock, lives in a unit with his wife and his six-month-old baby. Titus likened Blikkiesdorp to a concentration camp.
“Would those people in Parliament like it if they were taken from there and brought here to live with almost six children in one room?” asked Titus.
“We can’t go anywhere, we must just stay here. They don’t even make transport accessible to us. We’re suffering here,” he said.
Priscilla Adams, 35, who lives in a unit with her four children, said services were “poor” and there were no work opportunities in the area.
“Here, even 50c is too hard to get, but if we were under the bridge we wouldn’t even have to walk 15 minutes to find something to do.
“Metro police take their time to come when matters are reported. My one-year-old is sick with TB because of the poor living conditions,” said Adams.
Lule said people from Blikkiesdorp were not treated with the same respect as other citizens.
Richard Bosman, the city’s director for safety and security, said law enforcement officers were trained to treat everyone with “respect and dignity”. “If our officers are approached by people who are feeling ill, they will immediately request the necessary medical assistance.”
Lule said health care was one of the area’s biggest problems.
“Every week someone is sick or dying here. Ambulances take a long time to come, and sometimes they get here when patients are already dead.”
The city’s human settlement’s directorate is investigating possible development in the Delft area, which will include Blikkiesdorp.
Sonnenberg said the city, provincial government and the Airports Company of SA were still in discussions about the upgrade.
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