Royal Road plans anger formal and informal Maitland residents

THE move by the City of Cape Town to put new roofs over the heads of the Royal Road informal settlement residents has been called an insult to residents.

While the beneficiaries complained about the size and quality of the structures the Maitland Residents Ratepayers Association was concerned about the prolonged impact of the presence of the settlement.

Three weeks ago the City of Cape Town started with the reblocking of the Royal Road informal settlement, opposite the Maitland High School, and adjacent to the formal housing.

About 28 structures are built as replacement of the long-standing dwelling on the government-owned land.

These are intended as new homes for about 24 families of about 85 people.

The structures are single-roomed, close to one another, only allowing one person to move in between the passage that separates them.

Beneficiaries said it did not comply with safety measures and was too risky for the occupants in cases of an emergency.

Kashiefa Diko, a community activist said: “This is an insult to the people who have been waiting more than 20 years for proper houses.

“Some of the people living here are not on drugs or involved in any unlawful activities; it’s circumstances that forced them to live under such conditions and they work hard to make their structures as bearable as possible and for someone to tell them to go squeeze in a tinny unsafe shack is unacceptable.

“They are not built in the normal re-blocking design in other areas; they are so close to one another that if there could be fire many would be affected.

“The City is yet again taking people for a ride and will say they are ungrateful when they refuse moving there. “Yes, there are people who have made it clear they’re not going there,” Diko said.

Anna Soldaat, a resident, said she couldn’t move into the single room structure with her 22-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, with Down syndrome as they all need privacy and space.

She has been living in the settlement for the past eight years and said the City had failed them ever since.

‘What about our hard-earned furniture and materials?

“If those were big and dignified enough to accommodate all our belongings and families we wouldn’t have a problem. But this is just an insult to the desperate citizens.”

They said the City had promised to provide basic services such as flushing toilets, water and electricity, and to maintain the area upon completion.

Riedwaan Maker, of the Maitland Residents Ratepayers Association, said: “We were excluded from the engagements and the council defied our attempts to bring them to the community to explain what is going on there.

“We are not against service delivery but not at our expense.

“We had hoped the City would move them to an areas where there wouldn’t be conflicting interests and impact to the existing neighbourhood.

“The presence of the structures has negatively affected the property value of houses in the area, making it hard to sell and let alone the criminal elements accumulating from that side.

“If the City has no plans to move them out of the community they can at least build proper RDP houses with proper infrastructure, not the shacks.”

City mayco member for human settlements Malusi Booi said there were plans to build a Community Development Centre (CDC) on the property.

“In order to proceed with development of the CDC, the informal area requires re-blocking in order to make room for the development of the CDC.

“The Western Cape government and City have identified an area on the same site, which will be used as a temporary relocation area in order for the development to proceed.

“The development of the TRA will enhance the appearance of the settlement and will provide services to the residents of the informal area.”