Zara Nicholson
Metro Writer
SOME 28 families who live in a “peaceful” informal settlement near Richwood, Milnerton are refusing to move from land which some have been occupying for more than 40 years as the city plans to relocate them to an area with no school and health facilities.
Shackdwellers in Richmond Park have been notified by the city that it planned to relocate them to Wolwerivier near Melkbosstrand.
Some families in Richmond Park are also land claimants. They were moved from Richmond Park under the Group Areas Act to Atlantis and Mitchells Plain, but some returned as they could not find work in the new areas.
Richmond Park land has been earmarked for a light industrial development.
Willem Davids, 50, one of the claimants living in Richmond Park, said: “The council did not even come speak to us, we just heard about this move to Wolwerivier from the claimants’ committee. That is no place for us, they want to give us a small piece of land and we’re going nowhere.”
Davids said residents had organised their shacks far apart from one another in order to prevent the spread of the fires, if any occurred, and feared they would be crammed together in Wolwerivier.
Their children attend schools and clinics in Bothasig and many have jobs in the area.
Residents said the move to Wolwerivier would place them far away from facilities they currently have access to.
“We are happy here, no one bothers us and we don’t bother anyone and we have no problems with crime,” Davids said.
Ellen Sullivan, 53, another claimant said they were meant to be relocated in December to clear the land for the light industrial development.
“We are not in favour of the move because it can become another Blikkiesdorp and we will just be left there and forgotten. There is nothing in that area and the piece of land they want to give us is ridiculous.”
The Melkbosstrand and Richwood Ratepayers Association are also concerned about the future of the Richmond Park residents saying they were a “close-knit, peaceful” community and said it would be to their detriment to move to Wolwerivier where they would not have access to services.
The associations said that the city had to ensure that the Richmond Park residents were not moved from one shack to another but to formal housing.
Mayoral committee member for human settlements Tandeka Gqada said the claimants would be compensated by getting their land back when the informal settlement on the site has been relocated.
Light industrial development has been planned for the site and would be started as soon as the informal settlement is relocated.
“The residents have been informed about the relocation and this is still at negotiation stage. Wolwerivier is the only nearby area where the city can accommodate them formally on a serviced site and the Richmond Park Communal Property Association (RP-CPA) would like to start the Light Industrial Development on the site as soon as possible,” Gqada said. She confirmed that the 28 families in Richmond Park would be beneficiaries of the city’s planned housing development at Wolwerivier.
Gqada promised more services in the new area compared to Richmond Park.
The associations and NGOs who assist the Richmond Park residents are concerned about where the children will attend schools, saying it was an “established community” which had all the services of transport, jobs, schools and clinics close to their homes.
The Melkbosstrand association is also opposed to the housing development at Wolwerivier, saying it would attract crime and become a slum. Construction is set to start this month with the city planning to build around 500 homes.
The city earlier admitted that residents in Wolwerivier would not immediately have access to clinics and crèches.
Gqada said the short-term plan was to establish mobile facilities until more formal facilities were built.