DURBAN - A crowd of angry residents from the New Germany informal settlement took matters into their own hands on Tuesday, setting alight two sections of vacant land behind the Reservoir Hills shopping centre.
The group, made up predominently of women, say they are fed up with renting shacks and demanded space to build homes of their own. The group are from the nearby New Germany informal settlement.
Speaking to the Daily News on condition of anonymity, one woman said she had been living at the New Germany informal settlement for the past 10 years.
She lived in a shack with her boyfriend and five children.
“Some of our children are getting raped at the shacks. There is nowhere safe for us to leave them when we go to work. We want our children to be safe. We want our own homes where our children can be safe,” she said.
Some of the women earn R1500 and have to pay R500 rent to those who are leasing out shacks, she said.
“We have children who go to school and we still have to buy food and clothes. We can barely afford to live with the money we earn and we still have to pay rent,” she said.
Another said the women in the informal settlements were fed up with being abused and wanted to build their own shacks away from the men.
“We are not safe where we are now. We will die for this new land. We’d rather die here, fighting for land,” she said.
The group had already demarcated areas of the vacant plot where they intended building their shacks.
A resident, known as “V”, said she was desperate to find a place for herself and her two children. V’s children are five and seven years old and have recently been evicted from a house.
“I have nowhere else to go. If I am given materials, I will build a place for my son and daughter here,” the distraught woman said.
Xolani Nala, Reservoir Hills ward councillor, said he had met a committee from the informal settlement early on Tuesday.
After addressing the crowd, Nala said he had asked for a list of residents so the problem could be assessed.
“Many raised issues that they had been renting for many years and wanted their own homes.
“Some are older than 18 and are still living with their parents. I will sit with the committee next week to find a resolution,” he said.
The issue of illegal land grabs has plagued the municipality for many years and recently, land invaders zoned in on an area in Chatsworth.
City’s obligations
Tozi Mthethwa, eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson, said officials from the Land Invasions Unit had visited the area more than 18 times from March 20.
“We are currently working with the police to curb the scourge and protect the land, which belongs to the city,” she said.
Mthethwa said the unit was mandated to stop people who attempted to illegally occupy land, including that which had been identified for development for residents awaiting houses.
“This is in fairness to the
majority of law-abiding citizens who are patiently waiting to be allocated homes.
“The municipality’s primary obligation is to protect and preserve land with the purpose of using it to unlock future development opportunities for the growth and sustainability of our city.
“The municipality has a backlog of 400000 units still to be built and this number will continue to spike if we do not take decisive action to prevent the mushrooming of new informal settlements,” she said.