CAPE TOWN – A first 200 batch of residents from Covid informal settlement in Mfuleni is expected to be relocated to new structures within the area this month.
The City had identified at least 2 000 people residing along the lake in the area for relocating to safe structures. Ward 114 councillor Ernest Madikane said the project will be built in three phases.
“We are still in the first phase. The construction of the structures started in September. We are expecting the first 200 of 400 temporary structures in Phase 1 to be completed soon and the beneficiaries will move in immediately. My wish is to move in all the first 200 beneficiaries before the December holidays.”
He added the other 200 structures would be built next year. He said the second phase would comprise 1 000 temporary structures and the third 600.
“I’m worried if we can leave these structures empty and go on our December holidays the criminals will vandalise them. We want all the completed structures to be handed over to their owners immediately. I see no reason for not doing so.”
Explaining the project, Madikane said only people who had built their shacks along the lake in Covid would benefit from the project, for their shacks were affected the most during the rainy season.
Earlier this month about 100 Covid residents marched through the city centre to protest ongoing lack of services in the area, which sprang up in 2020 when the pandemic was at its height.
One beneficiary, Siphelele Novoyi, said he couldn’t wait to be relocated to a new structure. He said since moving to Covid he could never rest, especially during the rainy season.
“Some of us didn’t come here because we wanted to; we were forced by circumstances. In May 2020 I lost my job at a restaurant in Wynberg during Covid-19. I had to move out from where I was renting in Site B (Khayelitsha) because I had no money. When I came here it was the only space (along the lake) that was available.”
