Cape Town – Angry residents of fire-ravaged Imizamo Yethu hurled insults at Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille when she visited the Hout Bay informal settlement for the first time on Saturday since last week’s blaze.
She appealed to them to not rebuild until the city stepped in. But community members said they are fed up at the lack of services.
Last weekend, four people died and 7 000 were displaced after a fire swept through the settlement. The blaze has been officially described as a “disaster”.
De Lille said a new housing project commissioned in February would help alleviate the overcrowding. In the interim, the city plans to distribute fireproof material to the residents.
Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille visits the victims of the fire in Imizamo Yethu. Picture: Bheki Radebe/Weekedn Argus
She said the city has spent more than R10 million on temporary services to help the community.
“We started a project to build 958 housing opportunities,” De Lille told the crowd of about 100 people. “It’s certainly not going to be enough.
"Instead of building double-stories, let’s go up higher so that they can accommodate more people.
“We are hoping to start moving people back as from Monday, that is why we are doing the demarcation now and the temporary service.”
I am sharing the news of rebuilding directly with the Imizamo Yethu community. So far we have registered 2058 residents. pic.twitter.com/0uBmpwSGEj
— Patricia de Lille (@PatriciaDeLille) March 18, 2017
However, families continued to rebuild their homes.
A senior City of Cape Town official said if they continued, the city would put off its housing plan.
Angry Nolithemba Neis spoke of a similar fire in 2004, where the city promised to house victims but failed to do so.
“There is an old lady who is staying at the community hall from that time (2004) till now. They (the City of Cape Town) said we must go somewhere, because they wanted to clean the place. Like now, they said they want to clean the place but after cleaning, they do nothing. This is very painful.”
Junias Salomo, 38, arrived moments after the heated exchange between De Lille and the community. He said he had been too busy rebuilding his shack to care what the mayor had to say.
“It’s not fair to say we should stop rebuilding. They are only coming now. It’s too late. We don’t have a place to stay, that is why we are building. The tents are full. It is overcrowded. We have no choice,” he said.