Mitchells Plain residents refuse to accept Langa rail occupiers as neighbours
“Try to understand our plight and our current living conditions” says Langa rail occupier
About 100 Mitchells Plain residents picketed at the corner of Jakes Gerwel and Highlands Drive on Wednesday to oppose plans to relocate shack dwellers occupying the railway line in Langa to land next to Mitchells Plain. Photo: Sandiso Phaliso
- A group of Mitchells Plain residents picketed on Wednesday to show their dissatisfaction with plans to relocate shack dwellers to land next to the community.
- The more than 1,000 families who were occupying the rail reserve and rail line in Langa are to be moved so that PRASA can fully restore the Central Line.
- The Central Line has not been fully operational for more than three years.
- Despite strong opposition from the Mitchells Plain residents, Langa shack dwellers say they are determined to move to secure better housing for themselves.
About 100 Mitchells Plain residents picketed at the corners of Jakes Gerwel and Highlands Drive on Wednesday afternoon to oppose plans to relocate Langa shack dwellers occupying the railway line to land adjacent to their suburb.
More than 1,000 families currently live in shacks along the railway line between Langa train station and the Jakes Gerwel bridge.
The families moved onto the rail reserve and erected shacks on the railway line during the Covid lockdown in 2020 after PRASA cancelled security contracts protecting the Central Line. Many of them occupied the rail line because they could no longer afford to pay rent as backyarders.
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts has instructed PRASA to relocate the occupiers so that the Central Line which runs to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain could be repaired and returned to full operation. The two portions of land identified for their permanent relocation is known as the Philippi Wedge which is adjacent to the Mitchells Plain suburbs of Woodlands and Weltevreden Valley.
There have been several delays in permanently relocating the families, the most recent being a rezoning application lodged with the City of Cape Town in August. A fast-tracked rezoning process is expected to be finalised by March next year.
However, residents of Mitchells Plain led by members of the National Coloured Congress say they were not consulted and strongly object to the Langa occupiers being relocated to the area.
Ross Maynier, who lives close to the proposed relocation sites, complained that neighbouring farmers and residents in the PHA were not consulted for the approval of the land use application.
“Mitchells Plain is no dumping ground,” he said.
“We are not going to accept the relocation of people from Langa living on the railway tracks. PRASA must go and look somewhere else for land to accommodate the Langa people. If they move the Langa people here, shit will hit the fence. We are not going to accept those people into our area,” said Maynier.
Another resident, Philip Jacobs, said informal settlements in the area, such as Siqalo, Oasis and Egoli, have been struggling without basic services for years. “Why doesn’t the government first provide basic services to those communities before bringing more people to suffer?
“There will be no relocation to Mitchells Plain, we will see to it,” said Jacobs.
Leaders of the group occupying the Langa railway tracks say they were shown the parcels of land on a map last year and had gone to see the land themselves.
Community leader Asithandile Bango said: “We are satisfied with relocating to that site in Mitchells Plain but we are surprised that the community is against this move. It is a scary situation because there might be some conflict when we finally move there. But we will not back down because we believe law enforcement will protect us.”
Bango pleaded with the protesting residents to “try to understand our plight and our current living conditions”.
“We deserve better housing and services like every other South African. When the time comes for us to move, we will do so without fear, even though we do understand the situation may be hostile,” he said.
PRASA spokesperson Andiswa Makanda said the relocation was subject to the City of Cape Town’s statutory processes being finalised.
Eddie Andrews, the City of Cape Town’s deputy mayor and mayco member for spatial planning and environment, told GroundUp both portions of land are located along Weltevreden Street, Schaapkraal in Philippi, and the City was playing a limited role in the proposed relocation.
Andrews said the City “has received two separate land use applications and the applications are currently in the advertising process”. He said on-site notices, notices to surrounding property owners and adverts in the press had been published, and registered civic associations, ward councillors and subcouncils had been alerted.
Andrews said the Housing Development Agency was responsible for the development of these sites. He said the City was not aware of the protest by Mitchells Plain residents.
“This is not a City of Cape Town application/development, but the applications submitted are being processed by the City in accordance with the Municipal Planning By-Law,” he said.
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Letters
Dear Editor
If you the City of Cape Town think we the people of Mitchell's Plain don't know your part in this relocation then you must be stupid. We will show the City that we mean business and we will not accept the Langa railway squatters in our backyard. Don't take our plea lightly. We will not be boxed in while our people suffer more and more each year... We are going to take that stand and nothing and no one will stop us. We are Mitchell's Plain and together we will fight this! I say let them try and force these people into our backyard and see what the results will be!!!
Dear Editor
I'm disgusted that people like this just feel they can put up a shack just anywhere and want compensation when evicted from the land which in the first place never belonged to them and they have illegally squatted on. This is getting out of hand because it's a trend. Put up a shack, get kicked off the property and demand government to place them in a house. Where did they come from in the first place?
I work my but off and can't even afford a house of my own but I do not wait for handouts or cause havoc and want everything to just be handed on a silver platter to me. We all struggle. I struggle too but I lift my behind and try my best as I have a family to feed. I get taxed for what? For free handouts to people who don't want to go work or make an effort to provide for themselves or their families? This must stop, just placing them in homes because they threw a tantrum.
Why not place the old people who still back dwell and for years have been waiting for a house on the government list?
Dear Editor
We see this. It is unfortunate. Perhaps the Mitchell's Plain residents should lift the bar by insisting that people moving in must ensure that their children reach Matric at least and urge them to become blood donors? This way we can ensure that they live healthily and not partake in risky behaviour.
A difficult situation though.
Dear Editor
I object to this relocation as the area is already overcrowded with illegal informal dwellings in an already resource-limited environment, and in some instances, there is no access to any resources. The area has also seen an increase in crime due to the rise in illegal informal squatters in and around the area, which has put permanent residents in vulnerable situations unfairly.
Dear Editor
I objected to the relocation of the Langa Rail occupiers to the already over crowded limited resourced, high crime area of Mitchell's Plain and surrounds.
Dear Editor
PRASA wants to move people to Philippi and Mitchell's Plain without consulting the residents and ratepayers. Do they not have a say in their own matters pertaining to their rights as citizens? PRASA has known since 2020 about what is going to happen to the people of Langa who were living on the train lines. Yes, I know that's a lifeline to Khayelitsha and beyond.
Ward 45 in Philippi is a horticultural area, and the residents are already in a difficult situation as far as sewage infrastructure is concerned—there is nothing, not to mention the roads, which are in a bad state. The first drops of rain and the area floods. Just imagine adding to this burden with more people being relocated there. Has PRASA ever thought of moving these people to the northern suburbs, like Fisantekraal, which is busy with a major airport project? Think of job creation. What about the Buhrein Estate, which has vast tracks of land that can accommodate all these people? Or is this a DA policy to keep them out of those areas? Surely something can be done.
Leave Mitchells Plain and Philippi out, and look for alternatives. There is plenty of land in the northern suburbs—plenty of ground and too many sports fields that can be utilised.
Dear Editor
Mitchells plain is overpopulated as is. Traffic is a nightmare – imagine another 10,000 people added to that strain. The stretch of road from that exact spot right up to Baden Powell, including Strandfontein, is the only way out. When they protest, why must you cage us in further? We are not animals. We are hardworking citizens that pay our taxes. Samora robot is a hot spot, Siqualo robot is fast becoming a hotspot as well. Now you want to make Weltevreden a hotspot aswell? Please, please consider us for once. We are human.
Dear Editor
I as a woman driver fear of hijacking and getting stone thrown in Weltevreden Drive. Ward 43 is already over populated with informal settlements all around us. Ward 43 is also fighting for infrastructure for more than 25 years. We have black outs and pipe bursts all the time. What about our safety as woman and children that has to drive threw there. There are no security cameras on that road.
We can not let this happen. We say no to another informal settlement.
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