Cape Town - The City has been criticised for rejecting a request to approve the relocation of illegal occupants on the Central Line in Langa, on a temporary, emergency basis.
The request was made by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the Housing Development Agency (HDA).
The HDA said it submitted the request for the City to lodge Section 68 for approval by the City council in June.
The City sought a legal opinion on the matter but came back to say the proposed development did not qualify for consideration for a declaration under Section 68 of the by-law, according to the HDA.
“The proposal that has been put to the City provides no indication that the relocation is of a temporary nature; and that the unlawful occupants of the Central Line cannot be reinstated back onto it at any stage in the future.
“There is no indication of how the provision of ongoing basic services will be financed on the proposed relocation site.
For at least these reasons the City is of the view that the current proposal does not meet the requirements for consideration thereof by the City under Section 68 of the MPBL,” the City said.
Siyahla informal settlement residents first occupied the tracks along the Central Line in 2019.
The HDA said the City’s response was “worrisome”.
“To create space for the rail infrastructure and the Central Line to be repaired and made operational, occupants who have erected informal settlement structures along the railway line would need to be relocated to alternative accommodation.
“Prasa obtained a court order from the Western Cape High Court for the lawful relocation of affected communities. The deadline for relocation as provided by the Western Cape High Court is November 30, 2022.
“To expedite the relocation process a resolution was taken to adopt a two-pronged approach: lodging of the Section 68 application and a normal rezoning application.”
Community leader Jackson Kondile said they were disappointed by the City’s decision.
“What we have been told is that the mayor has refused to sign the relocation papers.
“We have met with the community and we agreed we will go to their offices to protest.
“We are going to ensure the mayor signs the papers or we will have to take matters in our own hands. We agreed that no train will be moving in the area until they relocate us to an identified piece of land, that was our agreement with Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula,” said Kondile.
Mbalula’s spokesperson Lwazi Khoza said: “On September 8, when the HDA, the housing MMC, legislature representatives, Prasa’s executive and the Department of Transport’s then acting director-general signed off on a social compact to ensure the relocation of the occupants of the Central Line.
“Minister Mbalula is committed to ensuring that all arms of the state continue to work together within the confines of the law, but with great haste to ensure that the relocation is completed and the trains are relaunched.”
The EFF’s Cape metro spokesperson Andiswa Madikazi said they were not surprised by the decision taken by the City.
“These poor people have occupied private Prasa land and we are aware that the City does not provide services to people residing on private land.This will mean that if the City agrees to move these residents to temporary houses, then they will have to provide them with basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation.
“The DA-led City is deliberately rejecting the request on the basis that they do not want to carry a ‘black burden’ of providing basic services to these people because they do not perceive them as people who are deserving of basic services”.
“They do not want to divert their budget set aside for white security to provide services for black people,” Madikazi said.
Cape Times