Promises, promises Capetonians have heard plenty of them from politicians over the years, especially when winter rains strike, leaving thousands of people with flooded homes and miserable living conditions.
July's rains are unusually heavy, but the flooding and its effects on people are not. The poorest of the poor have again been displaced in their thousands and a comprehensive, permanent solution to the problem appears far off.
From reports in the Cape Argus it's clear that there is a predictable annual winter pattern in Cape Town, regardless of the political affiliation of the incumbent civic administration.
News pictures show soaked mattresses in waterlogged bedrooms, dejected residents scooping water from their living-rooms and rivers of rubbish flowing through streets of mud where children play in stagnating pools.
The politicians sympathise with those affected, and make the right noises by slamming the dire circumstances in which people find themselves.
As community halls are opened and blankets and food distributed, hopes are expressed that "this time" will be the last and calls are made to the government to fulfil previous promises of housing and service delivery for all.
But little happens...
A 2002 editorial in the Cape Argus stated that the housing problem in the Western Cape was "neatly illustrated by a report which recalled promises politicians made to residents of the flooded shacklands on the Cape Flats in 2007.
The report also showed that the leaders' promises for those in danger to be relocated have remained mere soundbites".
The editorial asked: "Can politicians really deliver on their promises?"
Residents continued to find themselves in the same predicament because of political inaction and red tape, it pointed out.
In addition to "political inaction and red tape", refrains often repeated in flooding reports are the calls for the various levels of government to work together, and the lack of land available for resettlement.
In recent years, the flooding has given rise to protests about housing delivery.
On Monday night, about 500 residents of flooded shacks staged a protest on the Mew Way on-ramp of the N2, burning tyres and throwing stones at motorists.
While housing backlogs continue to grow, along with the increasing desperation of those affected by the flooding fury, mitigation remains the focus.
Cape Town deputy mayor Grant Haskin says the reality is that people should be moved from the low-lying areas. In time, people will be moved out, and areas identified as prone to flooding will be physically demarcated - for instance by being fenced off, he says.
The city will, however, have to strengthen its "land invasion unit" to deter newcomers from again erecting informal dwellings in flood-prone areas - thus perpetuating the cycle.
Haskin said the city had done everything it could to lessen the damage and the impact of the floods through its disaster management and relief efforts, but added that it "can't stop the flooding".
He said the problem that had to be resolved was that of communities living in flood-prone areas, and that called for "a housing solution".
In the meantime, the city was considering approaching Dutch engineers, who could give specialist advice on additional measures to mitigate future flooding. - Cape Argus
July's rains are unusually heavy, but the flooding and its effects on people are not. The poorest of the poor have again been displaced in their thousands and a comprehensive, permanent solution to the problem appears far off.
From reports in the Cape Argus it's clear that there is a predictable annual winter pattern in Cape Town, regardless of the political affiliation of the incumbent civic administration.
Each year as the storm clouds threaten to dump their load on the people below, the city's disaster management department "braces itself" ahead of expected flooding and prepares to "put measures in place" to alleviate the resulting problems.
Then, after the rains, politicians don their gumboots and wade through flooded shacks to "assess the extent of the damage".
News pictures show soaked mattresses in waterlogged bedrooms, dejected residents scooping water from their living-rooms and rivers of rubbish flowing through streets of mud where children play in stagnating pools.
The politicians sympathise with those affected, and make the right noises by slamming the dire circumstances in which people find themselves.
As community halls are opened and blankets and food distributed, hopes are expressed that "this time" will be the last and calls are made to the government to fulfil previous promises of housing and service delivery for all.
But little happens...
A 2002 editorial in the Cape Argus stated that the housing problem in the Western Cape was "neatly illustrated by a report which recalled promises politicians made to residents of the flooded shacklands on the Cape Flats in 2007.
The report also showed that the leaders' promises for those in danger to be relocated have remained mere soundbites".
The editorial asked: "Can politicians really deliver on their promises?"
Residents continued to find themselves in the same predicament because of political inaction and red tape, it pointed out.
In addition to "political inaction and red tape", refrains often repeated in flooding reports are the calls for the various levels of government to work together, and the lack of land available for resettlement.
In recent years, the flooding has given rise to protests about housing delivery.
On Monday night, about 500 residents of flooded shacks staged a protest on the Mew Way on-ramp of the N2, burning tyres and throwing stones at motorists.
While housing backlogs continue to grow, along with the increasing desperation of those affected by the flooding fury, mitigation remains the focus.
Cape Town deputy mayor Grant Haskin says the reality is that people should be moved from the low-lying areas. In time, people will be moved out, and areas identified as prone to flooding will be physically demarcated - for instance by being fenced off, he says.
The city will, however, have to strengthen its "land invasion unit" to deter newcomers from again erecting informal dwellings in flood-prone areas - thus perpetuating the cycle.
Haskin said the city had done everything it could to lessen the damage and the impact of the floods through its disaster management and relief efforts, but added that it "can't stop the flooding".
He said the problem that had to be resolved was that of communities living in flood-prone areas, and that called for "a housing solution".
In the meantime, the city was considering approaching Dutch engineers, who could give specialist advice on additional measures to mitigate future flooding. - Cape Argus
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