Is the number of informal se lements in SA.
and relocate the poorest.
“For corona, the government gave us sanitiser (and) toilets,” said resident Rebecca Jane, 34. “But we don’t have water and there are several families living in one tent,” she added. It’s “not safe”.
Plot 323 was the first on a government-compiled list of dozens of settlements to be urgently “de-densified”.
At the inauguration ceremony last week, Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said the residents’ “dignity” had been “restored”. She rebutted dryly against anyone who asked why the resettlement had taken so long.
“We didn’t know about their terrible conditions,” she said. “The most important thing is (that) when we were aware of it, in less than a month we were able to solve it ... and we will continue to do it because we are a caring government.”
As expected, Wilgespruit’s re-location rapidly became a political football.
“These people had been put by what I would call an uncaring government into these tents and forgotten about,” blasted Johannesburg mayor Geoffrey Makhubo.
Makhubo, a member of the ruling ANC who took office in December, was making reference to his predecessor, Herman Mashaba – a former member of the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA).
Wilgespruit was not “created over the last three years – those people were living for 24 years in shacks before they were evicted”, rebutted DA ward councillor Leah Knott. “It’s just a political stunt.”
Knott condemned the new resettlement as “completely illegal” and problematic for “residents” from surrounding areas, most of whom are white.
Wilgespruit community spokesperson Sekokotle Sekokotle, 31, confirmed their “wealthy” and “white” neighbours had been hostile. He shrugged and gave an ironic smile in gratitude for the pandemic.
“Without this virus we would have stayed in those tents,” he said. “But we don’t want to celebrate yet. We will do it when all the dwellers are inside brick and mortar houses.”
Lawyer Thandie Chauke of the charity Lawyers for Human Rights doubted Sekokotle’s wish would materialise.
“Previous efforts from the government to de-densify informal settlements were regarded as a failure,” warned Chauke.
“What the government terms as temporary resettlement areas ended up being permanent sites.”
While de-densification was a “good thing in principle”, according to Chauke, it was also reminiscent of forced removals under apartheid. –