‘Dumping grounds’ for poor phased out

City to replace transit relocation areas with development areas

THE CITY of Cape Town is doing away with the temporary relocation areas (TRAs) which have been dubbed as the “dumping grounds for the poor”. While Blikkiesdorp and Wolwerivier may be around for a while, the other eight temporary relocation areas that were planned have been scrapped in favour of a plan for incremental development areas (IDAs), which will have a much closer look at the housing challenges in the city. Cape Town has a waiting list of 300 000 people.

“IDAs are meant to look after the current housing need and while doing so, develop into more formalised housing opportunities and suburbs with full amenities,” said mayco member for urban development Brett Herron.

These areas are being kept secret for now, Herron said. “Due to the high risk of land invasion, the names or locations of these sites cannot be made known. However, through the planning processes there will of course be a public participation process, in which the surrounding communities are encouraged to participate.”

Herron said all but two of the sites were at an advanced stage.

“The concept of IDAs is a relatively new one and is in line with the city’s commitment to improving the lives of our residents over time and to help many more instead

of a few by developing large-scale developments with full amenities and opportunities over time,” he said.

The city said affordable rental units would range between income levels of R1 500 and R7 500, while GAP housing, aimed at people who earned more than R6 000 and where a beneficiary obtained ownership of the property subject to payment of the purchase price in monthly instalments.

“One of the key focus areas of the Organisational Development and Transformation Plan is, how do we bring about parity in the delivery of services in our city.

“And so within those four geographical areas, we’ve divided the city,” Herron said.

Mayor Patricia de Lille said: “I will be the first one to admit, having achieved so much in the past five years, there’s still a lot more to be done to redress the imbalances of the past. It is not going to be reversed in 20 years, so the best that we can do as government… is to put some urgency in the system to make sure that we speed up service delivery because the patience of people must not be pushed and tested to the limit.” - siyabonga. sesant@inl.co.za

THE BEST WE CAN DO IS PUT SOME URGENCY IN THE SYSTEM TO SPEED UP SERVICE