"When you throw people out, they're not like water. They don't all run in the same direction. Some go this way and some go that way, so today we find ourselves in conflict."
The words of Imizamo Yethu community leader Samkelo Krweqe come 12 months after fire engulfed the informal settlement in the Cape Town suburb of Hout Bay, leaving four people dead, 15,000 displaced, and a mountainside that looked like a war zone.
What emerged from the ashes was a plan for "reblocking": building shacks further apart to make way for wider roads and other infrastructure.
But while many residents supported the project, agreeing not to rebuild until the changes had been made, many others resisted it and the matter has gone to court.
City of Cape Town spokeswoman Priya Reddy said many meetings had been held with the affected community but clashing agendas and "special interests" were complicating the issue.
Said Krweqe: "I don't feel proud. We have not gained ground in the way we should have as the court cases have delayed us. We thought this would be a much quicker thing so we could have decent roads between shacks."
ENDING THE SNAKE RUN
Many residents were also anxious that infighting in the DA, including a no-confidence vote that Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille narrowly survived, had slowed things down. "If she was removed, all projects would come to a standstill," said Krweqe.
In one part of Imizamo Yethu, Madiba Square, reblocking and electrification have already happened, and Krweqe said a fire that destroyed 192 shacks last month had proved the worth of the new approach.
"It was a disaster but it would have been much bigger without a road for the responders to drive down. Without that road you must navigate like a snake through small spaces," he said.Most community leaders opposed to reblocking declined to speak to the Sunday Times, but according to one who did not want to be named, some were unwilling to reduce the size of their shacks to make way for roads.
Others had built shacks with up to six rooms and faced a major income loss, as they rent out rooms for around R1,000 a month.
Mother-of-three Anelisa Nkangeli, 27, said her time in the temporary relocation area, full of uniform tin structures, had been the happiest since she moved to Imizamo Yethu.
"Now, unlike before, I have electricity and I feel safe. They said we would be here for 24 months but I think it will be longer and I am happy about that," she said.
ROOM TO FLEE IN AN EMERGENCY
Nothemba Nkope, 35, lives in the section where reblocking has taken place. "I am happy with the reblocking. Before, we didn't have gaps between our houses but now we can escape if there is a fire."
Forgoing space for the road was worth it, especially since this came with permission to add another storey on top of her shack.
"Everything just feels safer. Even if kids are playing in the road, it is wide enough for them to see a car coming and get out of the way."
Reddy described the reblocking as a "ground-breaking initiative" by the city council to deliver services such as water, sanitation, electricity, wider pathways and roads in the fire-affected area.She said the process had been focused on establishing the temporary relocation area with full services while improving and electrifying Madiba Square.
"There is a great focus on the formal housing process and also looking at new or different housing typologies to accommodate more people. Much work has gone into really understanding the housing need in the area," she said.
CHALLENGES, ACCORDING TO THE CITY OF CAPE TOWN, HAVE INCLUDED:
• Identifying enough alternative sites for affected people.
• The legal processes concerned with the relocation of residents living on Road 1. This is the project’s critical artery, and construction of roads and installation of services cannot start without residents relocating.
• Fine-tuning the programme with the community to ensure buy-in.
• Protests and resultant damage...