Housing

Witness says fire that left over 20 homeless was started by man high on tik

At noon on 10 December more than 20 people were left homeless by a fire at a hostel in Mfuleni.

Pharie Sefali

Brief | 11 December 2014

Parow’s block of flats from hell

Immigrants who live in Goodman Close and Le Ruth Close at 194 Voortrekker Road Parow are fed up with the awful conditions they live in.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 10 December 2014

Troubling questions about role of banks in scam

It might come to light why and how local banks readily granted bonds to people who couldn’t afford them when investors in a scam, run by the now liquidated Brusson Finance, head to the Gauteng High Court early in 2015.

Mandy de Waal

News | 9 December 2014

Residents blame Eskom and Zuma for fire that leaves dozens homeless

Residents of Kanana informal settlement in Gugulethu have blamed power cuts for a fire that left over a hundred people homeless on Friday evening.

Johnnie Isaac

News | 8 December 2014

Moving up in Joe Slovo

Approved Joe Slovo housing beneficiaries, who were deemed to be “too young” by government to receive houses in October, this week moved into their new units at the N2 Gateway development. Other families, who remain behind in the informal settlement, and who are now being moved to make space for the next phase of the housing development, remain unhappy.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 5 December 2014

Aftermath of a shack fire

With summer heat and seasonal gale force southeaster winds, it is a time of high risk for shack fires. There were 123 fires in the past month in informal settlements in the Western Cape. This December, load shedding may well be adding to that risk. GroundUp visited a family in the aftermath of a recent shack fire to see how they are coping.

Pharie Sefali

News | 5 December 2014

A house after waiting 13 years

Tirelessly since 2001, Thembisa Maso has been sent pillar to post by the City of Cape Town, the Department of Human Settlements, housing committees and ward councilors, only to be disappointed. Finally, she will be able to move into her home by the end of this week.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 3 December 2014

Eviction by the back door

Shackdwellers from the original settlement in Marikana, Philippi, are celebrating a court interdict which will protect them from being arbitrarily evicted “through the back door”. Interdicts secured by landowners and municipalities are supposed to prohibit further settlement. Yet they are often so vague that they allow for people who have already settled to be removed.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 1 December 2014

Court orders City to conduct census of Marikana

On Thursday, residents of Marikana informal settlement’s Rolihlahla Park section welcomed a Western Cape High Court postponement of an eviction hearing. The court ordered that the City of Cape Town compile an audit of the households living on the erf in question to determine who will need emergency temporary accommodation if an eviction order is granted.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 21 November 2014