Protesting residents of Isipingo transit camp blocked Mfundi Mngadi Drive (M35) with burning tyres on Thursday over concerns that their relocation to new homes was delayed deliberately.
Residents said the relocation process to move them from the transit camp to the newly built Kanku Road project in Isipingo Hills has been moving too slowly and the eThekwini municipality is not been forthcoming with answers.
SAPS and metro police quelled the protesters and the road was cleared by midmorning.
The project was officially opened on June 28 by the eThekwini municipality and the provincial department of human settlements and infrastructure. At the time, residents said they were told they would be relocated gradually to prevent possible invasion by non-beneficiaries.
“They were going to relocate all 360 of us in just over two weeks. The plan was to relocate 20 on June 28, then 30 people per day going forward, but only half have been moved in the three weeks since then,” said Zamile Sosibo, deputy secretary-general of the camp committee.
Sosibo, who has been relocated to the new homes about a kilometre away, said only 10 people had been moved this week.
“They didn’t move anyone on Monday and Tuesday. They released a list of only 10 on Tuesday evening who were moved yesterday [Wednesday] after we made many inquiries. That’s the only list they have released this week and the community is angry,” she said.
The transit camp was established in 2009 when more than 700 residents from largely informal settlements around the city were moved there in preparation of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. They were promised they would be there for 18 months, but that has become 14 years for some of them.
Most have been relocated to other areas such as Lovu, Umlazi and Cornubia, leaving 360 to move to Kanku Road.
“What hurts most is we are in these shacks, yet our houses [are] there, unoccupied, waiting for us. We’ve been asking for clarity from eThekwini municipality but it looks like they are avoiding us. They tell us they are attending meetings and they will come back with positive news, but we’ve been waiting for a report for two weeks now. That’s why we decided to protest today [Thursday],” said Snenhlanhla Macoba.
Another resident, Khulani Ngcobo, said the area was never conducive for housing and has become worse with the wind now that the houses of those who were relocated were demolished.
“We are not burning all this because we want to, it’s because we understand this is the only language the municipality responds to. We don’t know what is going on regarding our relocation and no-one is telling us anything.”
They accused senior officials in the municipality entrusted with ensuring their relocation of deliberately delaying the process for business purposes.
“The mayor said the people who are moving us should take 30 people per day and if that requires them to work overtime then so be it, but that is not happening. They keep decreasing the number of people moving out and we think they might be doing it deliberately for businesses.”
The city has yet to respond to queries.
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