Informal settlements’ leaders disrupt council meeting
YESTERDAY’S City council meeting got off to a rocky start after so called community leaders from informal settlements barged into the chambers demanding mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis address them outside.
The demonstrators were calling for the scrapping of the Unlawful Occupation by-law, as well as amendments to the Streets, Public Places, and Prevention of Noise Nuisances by-Law that was gazetted in February. They also demanded the recognition of the newly established informal settlements which they said were hindering the provision of basic services.
About 186 newly unlawfully occupied areas in the metro were recorded, which the City said was unable to cater for as existing recognised informal settlements were prioritised.
The demonstration also came after the communities recently called on Hill-Lewis to meaningfully engage them in conversations about housing in the City during its Affordable Housing Indaba, which they claimed they were not invited to.
Luthando Mncuntula of the Covid informal settlement said the City’s budget allocation for informal settlement upgrading excluded the newly established informal settlements.
“Firstly the City needs to recognise how these thousands of displaced people ended up in these places which it says are unlawfully occupied. This is against Chapter 2 of the Bill of Rights and undermines the dignity of the black people who continue to live in unserviced areas.
“The City’s response to the matter and its budget allocation has indicated that for the next year these areas would still be without electricity, water and proper sanitation. While the City says most of these occupations are in uninhabitable land it is its responsibility to relocate people to places where there is proper infrastructure and provision of services,” he said.
Human settlement mayoral committee member Malusi Booi said upgrades applied to all feasible projects that have been in the project pipeline of the City in the budget cycle stretching over three years and developed yearly. Booi said newly unlawfully occupied areas were assessed and plans made in terms of emergency considerations.
“In general, in the City’s existing settlements where the conditions make it possible and in City electricity supply areas, we are surpassing the national benchmarks for service provision. The commitment is there from our side, but it must be done in a planned and ordered manner,” he said.
Booi said the City spent R314 million in informal settlement upgrades over the past financial year, which included site and services upgrades, roadways, stormwater canal upgrades, and interventions to improve health and safety and winter readi ness interventions.