After waiting 27 years to receive the keys to his new home at Dido Valley housing development in Simon’s Town, Johnny Klein passed away peacefully.
Uncle Johnny, as he was affectionately known to residents of Red Hill informal settlement, shut his eyes for the final time merely hours after the key handover ceremony on Wednesday 17 May.
James Vos, the City’s Acting Mayco member for human settlements, handed over the first batch of keys.
According to Ward 61 councillor Simon Liell-Cock 10 people received the keys to their new homes on Wednesday.
“Ten keys were handed over. We are moving the older people in first and those in wheelchairs. Unfortunately, the first man to receive the key to his property insisted to stay in his home for the night and passed away.
“His daughter wanted him to stay overnight with her, but he insisted to stay in his new home. It was what he wanted and he had been waiting so long.”
The R170 million project has 600 housing opportunities of which 500 are subsidised Breaking New Ground (BNG) houses earmarked for the Redhill beneficiaries. A total of 100 houses are for the Luyolo land claimants.
Luyolo beneficiaries were forcibly removed from Simon’s Town in the mid-1960s to Gugulethu under the notorious Group Areas Act. The first group of Luyolo claimants viewed their units and attended a Housing Consumer Education (HCE) session on Saturday 22 April and will receive their units within the next few weeks.
“This has been a 27-year process and it has been 15 years wait to get land from Public Works, but the project is speeding up now and hopefully by next year, all beneficiaries from Red Hill will be on site,” said Liell-Cock.
A community leader from Redhill informal settlement, who wished to remain anonymous, says “Uncle Johnny”, who was in his late 70s, lived opposite her for many years.
“He was looking forward to his home and he lived across from me, so I used to check in on him.
“He couldn’t wait to move into his new home, so it is such a pity that he passed on.
“Sadly, he passed on around 20:00 on Wednesday.”
She added that Red Hill beneficiaries were, however, getting excited for the next batch of handovers in the coming weeks.
“So far, everything went well and everything is still in progress.”
According to Vos, the project “not only empowers beneficiaries as first-time homeowners, but it also brings together a severed community. This is a tangible example of redress and restitution in action and of our commitment to building a better future for those who bore the brunt of the apartheid policies.”
Vos added that the work on site is progressing well. It is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
“Thank you to our communities, City teams and project steering committees for the hard work and dedication to move this complex project forward.”
The majority of the beneficiaries for the BNG component of the project come from the Redhill informal settlement, which is located between Simon’s Town and Scarborough.
