FINDING SHELTER Residents wait years to move
Weather plays havoc with structures causing illness and death
SEVERAL communities around Buffalo City Metro, Great Kei and Mnquma local municipalities still live in temporary shelters, years after being promised formal housing.
The impact of the recent bad weather revealed the frailty of their structures in the face of the elements.
Many have complained that government drags its feet in building proper houses, but the Eastern Cape human settlements department said it was not their intention to have people living longer in temporary shelters.
In 2011, residents of Bhungeni informal settlement in Butterworth were forcefully removed from their shacks to make way for a shopping mall along the N2.
They were moved into temporary shelters in an industrial area and four years later still occupy those houses.
This week, Bhungeni Crisis Committee’s Sisa Matutu said there had been no progress in their community.
“Three hundred structures were erected with 60 toilets. Today the shelters are falling apart and the toilets are not working. People live in squalor as no land has been identified to built them houses,” said Matutu.
“The winter chills have have left many sick and some have died including [104-yearold] grandmother [Buyiswa] Jojozi. The situation is very sad.”
Human settlements spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha said there were various factors why people moved into temporary shelters.
“Ours is to quickly move them to better places but some processes and turnaround plans take longer because of issues like availability of land,” said Sicwetsha.
He said any broken shelters should be reported to the department.
In BCM, two communities have lived in temporary shelters for more than three years despite being told it was a six-month arrangement.
The Skululu family was moved to Braelyn Extension with 100 other families after their shacks caught fire in Duncan Village.
Speaking to the Dispatch this week, Msindezama Skululu said they were still waiting for word that they will be moving to a proper house but that has not happened.
Skululu said he and seven other people including his wife and grandchildren live there.
They sleep on the floor.
“It’s still a dream to own a proper house. We are told there is no land to built us houses. Interestingly there is vacant land that is not used around BCM,” said Skululu.
Phumlani Khwaza, a community leader at Lingelitsha township in Berlin, said temporary shelters did not last long.
“They break down and it’s difficult to fix them. The cold weather and rainy days make life miserable,” said Khwaza.
BCM councillor Gideon Makrwexe said the problem was the lack of land.
“People say there is vacant land in BCM but the truth is the metro does not own it. It’s mostly privately owned. We are doing our best to get the land to build houses,” said Makrwexe. — bonganif@