A new home owner from Dido Valley is overjoyed after finally receiving her house keys after witnessing many shack fires whilst living in the Redhill informal settlement during her lifetime.
Zolani Mabuyana is among the latest batch of 12 beneficiaries who received their home keys through the City of Cape Town’s Dido Valley housing development on Wednesday 19 November.
These beneficiaries hail from the Redhill informal settlement in Simon’s Town. This housing development forms part of the City’s R170 million Simon’s Town housing project which aims to provide 600 housing opportunities, of which 500 are subsidised Breaking New Ground (BNG) houses earmarked for beneficiaries from Red Hill while 100 are houses for Luyolo land claimants.
The Luyolo beneficiaries are from Gugulethu.
They were forcibly removed from Simon’s Town to Gugulethu in the mid-1960s under the Group Areas Act. Mabuyana told People’s Post the threat of fires in her hometown of Redhill made safety a daily concern.
“I am so happy to be part of the beneficiaries that received a house in Dido Valley I couldn’t wait for my house, because we have a challenge of fire, where we stay we are close to the mountains which means there could be fires at any time. I was so scared that it would reach our shacks,” she recalled.
The last fire Mabuyana remembered in the area took place in 2017 while she was still a learner preparing for her exams.
“I remember this other big fire that occurred in 2017 around November, I was writing exams on the following day and we had to come out of our shacks because the fire was very close to our shacks and the smoke was everywhere. I will never forget that day,” she said.
The City plans to celebrate more handovers as the homes are completed, says Mayco member for human settlements Carl Pophaim.
“We are truly grateful to celebrate yet another significant milestone with 12 more beneficiaries and their families from the Redhill community. Our teams have worked incredibly hard throughout the year, and it is a privilege to welcome home more families into safe, dignified homes they can finally call their own,” he said.
Pophaim says the housing project is progressing well and the plan is to complete it by June next year. “We look forward to celebrating with many more families in the future. Progress on site remains on track and we anticipate the full completion of the project in June 2026, if all goes to plan,” he said.
