Cape Town – Former workers of Longlands Farm in Vlottenberg, on the outskirts of Stellenbosch, have all but given up hope of receiving low-cost houses they were promised by a developer.
The workers live in shacks and old dilapidated farmhouses with their families, while next to them a multimillion-rand Longlands development continues.
Vlottenberg Housing Committee member Hendrik Brink said the developer, Francois Smith, bought the farm in the early 2000s but the Stellenbosch municipality denied his application for its development.
“He (Smith) then applied to the Cape Town High Court to approve the development. He approached the original Longlands farmworkers to assist with a memorandum in favour of the development, which we believed would be to our benefit,” said Brink.
He said the application received approval for 100 luxury homes, while Smith promised R2 million for the construction of 106 low-cost housing.
“Things have stood still since then, with continued promises and meetings but never with all the role-players, ourselves, Smith and the municipality."
“Our people are living in terrible conditions while the developments continue as Smith just finished building a BP garage in Polkadraai Road,” said Brink.
Margaret Arendse, 74, born and raised on Longlands farm, doubted she would receive her house.
Arendse is bedridden and her son Josef Arendse,47, showed the Cape Times their home with its cracked walls and a roof with a hole.
“When it rains, the whole house is flooded and even after the recent rains our floor is still not dry. There are promises and people coming to take names and check the conditions, but still we wait,” said Arendse.
Portia Michaels, 43, had to move into a shack last year with her three children after the wall of their home gave way.
Stellenbosch Mayor Gesie van Deventer said the municipality sympathised with the former Longlands workers.
She agreed that they had been waiting for a long time.
“The municipality is still in negotiations with the developer of the Longlands Project in an effort to get the project off the ground. In light of this (the negotiations), it would be counter-productive to the project to comment on this matter,” said Van Deventer.
She said they were aware of the urgent need to finalise the project to assist the residents to get decent housing opportunities.
Smith declined to respond to questions, only saying he would not comment on the matter at the time.