Residents of Sir Lowry’s Pass Village have been told that the City of Cape Town will service their land and temporarily relocate 52 structures to higher ground.
At a public meeting on Sunday, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille assured residents that the city had secured the land, on which the Rasta Camp settlement was built, from the provincial government.
De Lille, city councillors, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and ANC caucus leader in council Tony Ehrenreich attended the meeting to address progress made since the last community meeting in May.
Ehrenreich saluted the community for raising the issues in the matter, saying they had “won a victory”.
Ehrenreich was cheered as he said: “What you deserve is the same as what everyone in the country wants… What you heard here (today) are not presents – they are your rights, they are your victories!”
He praised the community for taking a stand and told them they had made significant progress, but reminded them to continue to unite until all community members were served.
Ehrenreich said although they had got responses from the government, they should continue to be vigilant.
“And if there is no progress, then we must close the N2,” he said to applause.
The city has been engaging with residents since a service protest in the area turned violent in May.
During the protest, residents blockaded the main road, hurled petrol bombs at a satellite police station and damaged a police van. Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Residents were protesting over poor sanitation and a lack of housing and other services.
De Lille requested the co-operation of residents living in 52 structures, built on a flood plain, to be moved to higher ground.
There are 220 structures in the Rasta Camp.
The 52 structures would be “temporarily relocated”, De Lille said, in order to provide space for engineers to service the land.
She said the city would assist with logistics in moving the structures during the temporary relocation by providing trucks, manual labour and starter packs.
But some residents objected, saying they were not “by the means” or financially able to move and get new materials to do so.
De Lille suggested that they do individual assessments of each household and proposed a meeting with the families of the 52 structures on Thursday.
The city plans to introduce “enough taps” and chemical toilets for everyone.
“When we prepare the land, it will be prepared for the 220 families, but we only need to move the 52 families.”
People complained that the government had made promises in the past and had not delivered on them. They questioned why the city was only focused on Rasta Camp and raised concerns about drugs and a lack of recreational facilities in the village.
Other concerns included having a school built in the village. Zille said there were 550 pupils, 450 Afrikaans-speaking and 100 English-speaking, which were insufficient numbers to justify building a school in the village.
No comments:
Post a Comment