By Caryn Dolley
Politicians planning to visit Blikkiesdorp, the temporary relocation settlement in Delft, should first let the SAPS know for safety reasons, the area's police commissioner has warned.
Issuing the warning, Commissioner Basil Vellai said the area was "a housing time-bomb" that threatened to explode and criminals were preying on the impoverished residents of Blikkiesdorp.
He said the thousands of people living "in frustration" in the crime-ridden community were approaching boiling point.
'It's like a housing time-bomb. If housing isn't sorted out, there'll be big problems.' But Mayor Dan Plato, who was slapped by an angry woman when he visited the area last week, says he is "happy" with Blikkiesdorp - to the extent that it may be extended and one or two "similar informal areas" created.
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Tomorrow, at least 2 000 people are planning to march to the Cape Town Civic Centre to speak to him about their living conditions.
During his visit, angry residents also swore at Plato after he dismissed their complaints about inhuman conditions, saying the settlement was "among the best".
Although the wood-and-iron structures provided may be better than shacks, Vellai said Blikkiesdorp was "a housing time-bomb" and plagued by crime.
"Drug merchants from all over are coming into the area," he said.
"They're targeting the poor people living there saying, 'If you stash my drugs (in your home), I'll pay you'. Or they're forcing the people out (of the temporary homes).
"There's housebreaking, clothes are stolen straight off washing lines. Because there are no garages, cars are broken into. Strangers and criminal elements are moving in and benefiting from Blikkiesdorp. Gangsters are capitalising on it."
At weekends, alcohol and drug abuse became a problem in Blikkiesdorp, and this was when children were often left unattended, Vellai said.
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