Langa outrage over Gateway integration

Emotions ran high as Langa residents demanded answers from Local Government and Housing MEC Richard Dyantyi in a meeting over the controversial N2 Gateway housing project on Thursday night.

It was evident that Dyantyi would have his work cut out for him at the community hall, packed with more than 1 000 residents begging for clarity.

‘People from other areas are going to apply’

Dyantyi said: “The demand for housing is big and the backlog is growing each year. One of the mistakes that we have made with this project was to think of housing the people living in shacks without thinking of those living in back yards. But this is a lesson that there are other things we must take into account.”

He later added that the 70-30 split between Joe Slovo fire victims and shack dwellers (70 percent) and backyard dwellers still applied, but there was room for that policy to be revised depending on the outcome of the application process.

A particular bone of contention was the assertion by the government that would open the application process for the now complete phase one to residents in Bonteheuwel and Bokmakierie.

Resident Pamela Ngcayi was upset about people from outside of Langa being allowed to apply.

“My concern is that I have been staying in a bungalow where I was born in the back yard of my family’s house for years,” she said.

‘The N2 project is going to be benefit all the communities along the N2′

“I am now 45 years old and I still don’t have a house. Government is too slow. These houses are not enough and now people from other areas are going to apply.”

Dyantyi said the application process for the first 705 flats remained open to residents from Bonteheuwel, Bokmakierie, Crossroads, District Six and other areas that will eventually form part of the N2 Gateway project.

“The N2 project is going to be benefit all the communities along the N2. That includes District Six, Crossroads, Bokmakierie, Bonteheuwel and other areas.

“We won’t leave them behind.”

To promote integration, the application process included residents of the traditionally coloured areas of Bokmakierie and Bonteheuwel.

Other residents were concerned that very few specifics were included in the information given by the housing department, and the city before them.

The meeting heard that:

Applications for housing in phase one of the N2 Gateway project close on Monday.

Phase one flats will be rental units.

Phase two will consist of 1 000 houses with yards. It was not clear how large these houses would be.

Rent for the flats would be between R165 and R200 for “small flats” and R690 for larger units.

Cape Argus