Government officials speak out both sides of their mouths

Q. Do you plan to do anything about the temporary relocation area because the people of Joe Slovo and Langa are quite unhappy about the resettlement to Delft? (PMG)

TOKYO SEXWALE: We understand why people want to be where they are, they want to be close to their places of work,..... They want to be close to amenities. They want to have the kind of life that we are all having even though they are squatting. ......They also don’t want to be moved very far from where they are staying.

Director General Itumeleng Kotsoane: These are not evictions, these are relocations and they are intended to be temporary, so that we can allow work to be done on that portion of land, allocated for infrastructure to be built. But what we also say to people is it may happen that not all of you will come back and therefore we are bound to find alternative settlements and we will try by all means to make sure that we don’t uproot people far from places of work. So we are quite aware of that, the Department and the Province are providing additional transport for those people to go work, for their kids to go to school and so forth. There is some sensitivity about that issue.

ARE THEY EVICTIONS OR NOT? SOME WONT COME BACK.. THOSE ARE "EVICTIONS" RIGHT?

Q. Going back to the Joe Slovo question, concerning their marching. Are the people of Joe Slovo losing faith in this department?

TOKYO SEXWALE: Well, I don’t think it is matter of them losing faith in the department. But it is matter of them not taking the responsibility. Many of them are not paying rent. Remember when they got into those houses, they were work-shopped and screened to check if they could pay rent. So if they are not able to pay rent, they need to engage with the department, so that together we can find solutions. At the moment we think it is being unfair to the department, as they say that they are not going to pay rent.
Joe Slovo, Phase 1, is a social housing project, and the principle of social housing is that you pay rent. You don’t have ownership over the property. So this is done to provide options, if you are one of those people who do not qualify for housing. We can’t say that when people refuse to pay rent it is okay... Those who don’t pay will be required to get out of the houses. They don’t qualify for that type of housing as an option. The message must go out that government does not allow anarchy.

Deputy Minister, Ms Zo Kota: Consumer education is critical, in the process of building human settlements. Areas like the N2 Gateway, if we don’t maintain those flat they are going to go down. We need the rents to maintain those flats. We have to make sure that we are partners in making systems work. The people must have a sense of ownership of the N2 Gateway.

YOU WANT THE PEOPLE TO HAVE A SENSE OF OWNERSHIP? THE MINISTER JUST SAID: "YOU DON'T HAVE OWNERSHIP OVER THE PROPERTY"... SO A "SENSE OF OWNERSHIP WILL HAVE TO DO?