Residents who attended the application for rezoning two plots of land for the relocation of railway squatters say “there will be a war” if the land invaders are moved to the Philippi Wedge.
On Wednesday evening, Mitchells Plain and Siqalo informal settlement residents gathered at Rocklands Civic Centre for the public participation process about the piece of land along Weltevreden, known as the Wedge, which has been earmarked for Langa and Philippi squatters.
This after Prasa and the implementing agent, the Housing Development Agency (HDA), submitted land use applications for rezoning of land for housing development.
Siqalo resident Thelma Tshabile said they don’t need more residents taking up resources.
Tshabile said: “We are not going to allow them to move there and get services, which we have been fighting for many years. We have more than 200 children who had to drop out of school because there aren’t any schools for our children. We have been asking for electricity and we were told by the City that we’re on private land and they can’t help us.”
Mitchells Plain councillor Elton-Enrique Jansen said he had been accused of inciting the community to object against the application.
Jansen said: “(But) other councillors said they were against this too. The Wedge is part of City’s spatial development framework and it encourages new development whether it is residential or industrial or any development that is not toxic to the community. It is encouraged to be a buffer for agricultural activities, that is why it is encouraged in the development framework to attract investment.”
He said moving the squatters to the Wedge would chase investors away.
Jansen says: “We need job creation and proper housing. If we allow this, it will become permanent.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za