The city council plans to relocate people from three different informal settlements, mainly homeless people who have been living under bridges, to a vacant piece of land next to the Maitland cemetery.
The city's executive director for housing, Hans Smit, said the city had been making "good progress" with its plans to do away with the informal settlement under the Vanguard Drive bridge in Goodwood.
Smit said residents of this informal settlement would be moved to the vacant land which is being leased from Intersite, a division of Spoornet.
Smit said shack dwellers in Acacia Park were also going to be moved there.
He explained there had been an informal settlement at the far end of the graveyard, and those residents had suffered severely as a result of the heavy rains.
"They will be moving to the vacant land as well," he said.
On Sunday a group of about 40 people who have been living under the Vanguard Drive bridge met on the earmarked land, sandwiched between the railway line and the Maitland cemetery, to prepare for their move.
There is some confusion about who is to be accommodated on the site.
Vincent Alexander, who claimed to represent an organisation called the Housing Project Committee, said many of the residents who attended Sunday's meeting would not be moved on to the land.
He said people living in the graveyard, residents who were living in three shacks along Voortrekker Road and only those Acacia Park residents staying in the Factreton Hall are to be housed on the land.
This claim was disputed and Alexander was ejected from the meeting.
Phindile Xalipi, a spokesperson for the Acacia Park settlement, who hosted Sunday's meeting, said all Acacia Park residents would be housed on the land.
"I will not leave any one of you behind, the people inside the graveyard were also promised land here. We are not against them but we must get the land first," he said.
Deshi Mqwena, who has been living beneath the bridge in Acacia Park for five years, said he was "very excited" to be moving to the new land.
"It's much better living here on the Intersite land than under the bridge."
Nomceba Ndeyi lived beneath the bridge for four years but moved to Happy Valley in Delft recently. She said she was pleased about receiving the land because she did not want to live in Happy Valley. - Cape Argus
The city's executive director for housing, Hans Smit, said the city had been making "good progress" with its plans to do away with the informal settlement under the Vanguard Drive bridge in Goodwood.
Smit said residents of this informal settlement would be moved to the vacant land which is being leased from Intersite, a division of Spoornet.
| 'Residents had suffered severely as a result of the heavy rains' |
He explained there had been an informal settlement at the far end of the graveyard, and those residents had suffered severely as a result of the heavy rains.
"They will be moving to the vacant land as well," he said.
On Sunday a group of about 40 people who have been living under the Vanguard Drive bridge met on the earmarked land, sandwiched between the railway line and the Maitland cemetery, to prepare for their move.
There is some confusion about who is to be accommodated on the site.
| 'They will be moving to the vacant land as well' |
He said people living in the graveyard, residents who were living in three shacks along Voortrekker Road and only those Acacia Park residents staying in the Factreton Hall are to be housed on the land.
This claim was disputed and Alexander was ejected from the meeting.
Phindile Xalipi, a spokesperson for the Acacia Park settlement, who hosted Sunday's meeting, said all Acacia Park residents would be housed on the land.
"I will not leave any one of you behind, the people inside the graveyard were also promised land here. We are not against them but we must get the land first," he said.
Deshi Mqwena, who has been living beneath the bridge in Acacia Park for five years, said he was "very excited" to be moving to the new land.
"It's much better living here on the Intersite land than under the bridge."
Nomceba Ndeyi lived beneath the bridge for four years but moved to Happy Valley in Delft recently. She said she was pleased about receiving the land because she did not want to live in Happy Valley. - Cape Argus
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