16 December 2025
Dozens of shacks have been built on top of the Transnet freight railway line near Potsdam Road in Dunoon. Residents of the informal settlement were due to be relocated years ago, but these plans stalled. Photos: Peter Luhanga
It’s been 12 years since negotiations to relocate people living on the railway tracks at Siyahlala informal settlement in Dunoon started. Residents now say their living conditions have deteriorated rapidly while the City of Cape Town says it is unable to move the group as originally planned because the number of people has mushroomed.
In 2018, GroundUp reported on a service delivery protest by Siyahlala residents which led to the suspension of freight trains along this route after Transnet and the anti-land invasion unit had tried to remove the occupiers. The state’s eviction request was referred to a mediation process by a judge, “for an amicable resolution of dispute between Transnet, the residents and the municipality”.
The following year, the City of Cape Town announced plans to relocate the group as it rezoned the area from industrial to residential. However these plans stalled due to the covid lockdowns in 2020. Since then, the settlement has grown, with more shacks being erected on top of the railway tracks.
Conditions at the settlement are awful. Many people have relieve themselves in plastic bags or walk a far distance to the nearest toilet. The area is littered with plastic, discarded clothing, food waste and broken household items.
Community leader Zukiswa Kaphakati, who participated in the initial mediation talks, told GroundUp that most of the current Siyahlala households were not part of the original relocation list given to the municipality. Some moved there after losing their jobs. Many arrived there seeking work in the nearby industrial areas of Winning Way Business Park and Killarney Gardens, he said.
Resident Cameron Simana says last year he bought a shack built directly on the railway line for R8,000. The seller had moved to another area. At the time, Simana was nearing the end of his contract as a security guard.
He is now unemployed and has struggled to find a steady job. He says he has nowhere else to go. “The ground floods with dark, stagnant water. The place is damp. It causes pneumonia,” says Simana.
Mamelo Leoto works for a City contractor employed to clean Siyahlala. She confirmed that she uses a bucket as a toilet at night. She says they clean waste and store it in a shipping container for weekly removal.
Questions sent to Transnet went unanswered despite several follow up calls.
Cameron Simana’s home is on the railway line. He is unemployed and has struggled to find a steady job for a year. He says he has nowhere else to go.
According to Kaphakati, the municipality’s latest attempt to count the existing shacks was disrupted by disgruntled residents, bringing the process to a halt.
She says residents believe the relocation has stalled, and with sewage and wastewater flowing year-round, many households are moving onto the railway line and beyond in search of dry ground.
Human settlements mayco member Carl Pophaim says the City and provincial government’s application for funding for the relocation is still pending. Once approved, he says the City will start relocating households to land owned by the province.
Asked why the property was not fenced to avoid more people moving onto the land, he said: “There was, and is currently no Service Level Agreement or Memorandum of Agreement between the City and Transnet that would authorise the City to undertake safeguarding measures on their behalf.”
Pophaim said the City will communicate relocation plans “as soon as further progress has been made”.
Water and sanitation mayco member Zahid Badroodien says there are 55 chemical toilets, 18 full flush toilets and 15 standpipes in Siyahlala.