Tshwane seeks to move displaced Cemetery View residents to Mamelodi hall, residents 'refuse to go'

Displaced families of Cemetery View informal settlement in Woodlands are re-rebuilding after a fire ripped through 300 shacks at the weekend, killing three and displacing more than 2,000 shack dwellers.

Ward councillor Malcolm de Klerk said there were threats received by a forum in Mamelodi to prevent the victims  from being bussed to safer conditions.

The City of Tshwane said on Sunday evening it had availed four buses to transport the residents to temporary accommodation venues arranged at the Stanza Bopape Hall in Mamelodi east as well as at the community hall in Mamelodi west.

However, the City's spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the buses had to return to the depot empty after the residents refused to board them.

“Despite the city’s offer to assist the victims and reduce the burden of the difficulty they’ve endured since the fire broke out on Saturday, they’re adamant that they will not relocate, and will instead rebuild their structures, a process which started last evening and is ongoing,” he said.

Bokaba said Tshwane’s community and social development department and ESD are co-ordinating intergovernmental social relief efforts together with other structures such as Sassa, department of social development and the department of human settlements to ensure that the victims’ plight receives the necessary consideration.

He confirmed that there was a court order that the city should find them alternative accommodation after the city had demolished their shacks following their invasion of the particular land around 2006/2007.

The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) leadership in Mamelodi has condemned the City's move to try to relocate the victims.

Sanco Mamelodi zonal chairperson Joseph Kgatle said the distance from the place where the incident happened and the community halls in Mamelodi where the city wants to relocate the victims is just a little over 11 kilometres.

"Our view is that there are community halls in Pretoria east. Why doesn't the City of Tshwane accommodate these victims there?" he said, arguing that it was closer to their current location. 

"It is well known that the municipality has a bad track record regarding the provision of relief for victims of any disaster, be it floods or fire.

"The people of Cemetery View should reject these efforts by the City of Tshwane to relocate them to Mamelodi. Equally, the people of Mamelodi should refuse to allow their recreational facilities to be used for this purpose. The people of Cemetery View will be dumped and left destitute. This movie we have seen many times before in Mamelodi," he said.

Bokaba said the city is continuing to receive rudimentary services and other social relief measures such as food and other necessities, which are being co-ordinated through the city’s community and social development department.

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