Tsunami residents demand new land

Residents claim that for the past eight years they have been living in an area with no basic services. They blame the provincial and City administrations for this.

They use nearby bushes to relieve themselves. Water they get from the taps set up for the temporary relocation area near the informal settlement. For electricity, they made connections to street lights but they say Eskom disconnected all the wires last month.

According to residents the City of Cape Town promised two years ago, to move them to dry land in Forest Village and Blueberry Hill. However recently they heard rumours that the same land had been promised to the people living in Marikana settlement.

Community leader Thobeka Jeli told GroundUp residents considered that City was playing games with them.

“We are living in a flooded area. We were supposed to be moved by now. All we want is for the City to give us the land they promised,” said Jeli. She said if Madikizela did not respond they would take the matter further to national government.

Residents’ demands were listed as follows: 1. Land 2. Clean water 3. Sanitation 4. Electricity boxes 5. Streets

Resident Sisanda Mali told Groundup that she was tired of using bushes as a toilet and believed that residents had a right to decent services. She said people were being robbed in the bushes and at night they had no choice but to relieve themselves inside the shacks using buckets or plastic bags.

“We live like pigs and all we get from the provincial government is empty promises. We were told that we do not qualify for the N2 Gateway houses and we do not have a problem with that, if only they gave us the land they promised us,” she said. “We are tired of living in a wetland area. The City must give us the land as they promised.”

She added that they had had a number of protests in the past few months, burning tyres, but City officials had not visited the area. “They kept quiet as if we no longer exist,” she said.

The march started peacefully, but later some of residents tried to loot vendors in Adderley Street but were stopped by community leaders and police.

The memorandum of demands was handed over to Ray Rughubar from the Human Settlements office. Residents gave him seven days to respond.