Relocation of Langa rail line occupiers delayed by regulations

It has taken more than a year to rezone land for the relocation of these households living in the rail reserve of the Central Line in Langa. Photo: Sandiso Phaliso

• More than 1,000 households are still living in the rail reserve alongside the Central Line in Langa.
• PRASA is trying to relocate them to land alongside Jakes Gerwel Drive, on the western edge of Mitchells Plain.
• It has taken more than a year so far for the necessary land rezoning processes to be completed.
• PRASA is also caught up in the rezoning process at a separate temporary relocation site at Stock Road, Philippi. There more than 700 households who were living in shacks built on the Central Line in Philippi, have already been relocated.

Attempts to move thousands of people living within the rail reserve along the Central Line in Langa, to land next to Mitchells Plain, have been held up for more than a year by the rezoning processes.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) owns the land alongside the railway line. About 1,200 households have been living there since building homes during the Covid lockdowns. PRASA is attempting to move them to two portions of land known as the Philippi Wedge between Philippi and Mitchells Plain.

PRASA, through the Housing Development Agency (HDA), acquired the land from a private owner, and in August last year submitted applications to the City of Cape Town for the properties to be changed from Agricultural to Single Residential zoning.

The move has been strongly opposed by Mitchells Plain residents, with more than 900 comments registered during the required public comment period on the rezoning during October and November last year.

City mayco member for planning and spatial development, Eddie Andrews, said the City had asked PRASA for additional information, and “two reports are still being finalised”.

Andrews told GroundUp the reports’ recommendations will become public when they come to the Municipal Planning Tribunal.

But the lack of progress is causing frustration among the people living in the rail reserve, who say they lack access to water and electricity, and their living conditions are deteriorating.

“The process was taking too long to finalise as was anticipated. We had imagined that by now we would be staying on that Philippi Wedge but that is not the case,” said Thembekile Njova, who lives in the Langa railway reserve.

“This process is not getting the urgency it deserves because living here (in the railway reserves) is a disaster, and children cannot grow under such circumstances,” said Njova.

Stock Road site

Early this year, the relocation of more than 700 households who had built shacks on and next to the Central Line in Philippi, were moved to PRASA-owned land next to the Stock Road station.

PRASA undertook the move without finalising the required rezoning process for the land, for which they were fined R25,000 by the City for contravention of applicable by-laws.

This rezoning application, which has also been delayed by PRASA needing to submit additional information to the City, is now undergoing a 30-day circulation process to internal City of Cape Town departments for comment.

The initial deadline given for the rezoning application was 22 January, but PRASA applied for a 60-day extension until 22 March. Then PRASA asked for a further extension until the end of July.

A notice for public comment has also been advertised and circulated to the relevant ward councillors and subcouncils, as well as abutting property owners and other interested parties. The closing date for public comment is 21 October.

The purpose of the application is to permit a temporary decanting site for informal dwellers occupying 719 temporary shelters.

“The City received the last outstanding information related to this application on 2 October 2024,” said Andrews.

A resident living on the Stock Road site, Lunga Thokoza, said they were living in inhumane conditions and the sooner these processes were finalised the better. “Here we are boxed in between railway lines and it is difficult for cars to come and leave this area. People cannot live under such circumstances. We feel we have been dumped here to fend for ourselves. There are no water taps or electricity connections,” said Thokoza.

People moved to the Stock Road site have previously protested over insufficient access to water and sanitation services.

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