While a group from Langa celebrated, a group from Gugulethu protested as Human Settlements Minster Tokyo Sexwale handed over 300 housing units in Joe Slovo this week.
For over an hour before Sexwale’s arrival at the Joe Slovo Phase 3 handover, a disgruntled group of about 100 residents from Gugulethu provoked the Langa residents waiting to get keys to their new flats.
The Gugulethu residents were upset because houses were not being delivered in their area.
Police kept a close eye on the singing and dancing inside the marquee set up for the handover ceremony and Sexwale’s advisor, former Western Cape housing MEC Richard Dyantyi stepped in to address the gathering in a bid to calm the situation.
However, the two contingents only quietened down when Sexwale arrived and assured the crowd he was the housing minister for everyone in South Africa.
He said the turn would come for those not receiving houses yesterday, as the government wanted to ensure that all poor people got decent housing and warned that party politics should not be used to divide people ahead of development.
“No politics should be played with development,” he said, highlighting that the national, provincial and local government were working together to make the Joe Slovo housing project a reality.
“This is not the money for DA, it’s the tax payers’ money,” he said, pointing out that although the ANC and DA may fight in politics, the parties worked together when it came to development.
He emphasised that the housing unit was a lifelong asset to the recipients before taking a tour of the 300 units.
Beneficiary Grace Ndiki, 62, said she had lived in a shack for the past 20 years but would now live between brick walls with her four grandchildren.
“I feel happy. I feel warm. I thank the government for helping me get a house,” she said.
Joe Slovo community leader Mzwanele Zulu said he was impressed to see people getting houses but warned that the housing list needed to be revised as there were new people on the list who residents weren’t familiar with.
Zulu was also concerned that there were 400 people whose status had not been determined and as such did not know whether or not they would receive housing.
David Gwanya, 42, who formed part of the aggrieved group from Gugulethu, said he had come to protest at the handover ceremony because where he lived in the Barcelona informal settlement, it was dirty, cold and people were getting sick.
The Joe Slovo housing project forms part of the government obligation to fulfil a 2009 Constitutional Court ruling that it needed to build houses for the Joe Slovo informal settlement residents. The residents had defied government’s plans to forcibly remove them to Delft to pave way for the planned N2 Gateway Housing Project. – WCN
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