Thembisa Shologu
The Acting MEC for Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile, has announced that land has been identified for relocating residents affected by the recent fire at the Cemetery View informal settlement in Tshwane.
The blaze, which broke out on the morning of 21 September 2024, destroyed multiple shacks and left thousands of people displaced.
During a visit to the area, MEC Maile assured the community that engineers had been appointed to design and prepare the land to ensure its safety and suitability for relocation.
“Informal settlements are a big problem in our province. They border on lawlessness in most cases, and we must find a way to prevent people from occupying land.
“We don’t have to wait until people occupy land illegally; it is not helpful. It demonstrates weakness on the part of the state, it demonstrates disorganization, and we want the municipalities, the province, and the nation to work together in a coordinated way, make sure that all the state-owned land, including private-owned land, is identified, protected,” said Maile.
The City of Tshwane MMC for Human Settlements, Ofentse Madzibatela, has confirmed that a man has been arrested in connection with the incident.
Madzibatela said the city was working hard to develop a plan to manage beneficiation, also considering age and the needs register.
“As the city, we are coming forward with a ground-breaking policy that will discuss how we manage beneficiation and how we choose which informal settlement to start development at. The land in question we are referring to was identified some time ago; it is only now that we have appointed a contractor.
“The residents of Tshwane must rest assured that not only the informal settlement, in particular, will benefit but even those on the needs register, meaning those who have registered for RDPs and have not benefited yet,” added Madzibatela.
SOURCED FROM THE GPG WEBSITE.
