Cape Town - The hard lockdowns forced many desperate Capetonians out of the places they rented into establishing informal settlements in the hope of a better life.
Soon after South Africa went into the lockdown, its impact could be felt by those who for years had been living as backyard dwellers, paying anything between R500 to R1 500 or more in rent.
Just months into lockdown, new informal settlements, mostly in Khayelitsha and Mfuleni, were established overnight, with some named after the terminologies that came with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic such as, Sanitiser, Level 2, Social Distance, Covid-19 and Jerusalema (JR), named after the hit song that kept frontline workers going during the worst times in the fight against the pandemic.
You may have seen some of them along Baden Powell Drive opposite Monwabisi Beach, along the N2 and R300 highways and just off Spine Road, entering Khayelitsha.
Here there are no public amenities, no streets, proper toilets, running water, and most are inaccessible during emergencies.
Electricity is only available through illegal connections, putting further strain on Eskom.
While many residents had hoped that having their own home would provide a sense of security, the opposite has become the harsh reality they confront daily.
Fear grips these communities as criminals often use the lack of basic services like street lighting to commit some of the gruesome crimes, as recently reported in this publication.
According to the Khayelitsha Development Forum, 60 people, mostly in these areas, have been killed in shootings since May 2021. In March, five people including a woman, were shot dead in New Monwabisi Park.
Following that incident, six people – mostly youth – were shot dead in Enkanini informal settlement.
That shooting was followed by another – this time in Site C, where six people were also shot dead.
New Monwabisi Park residents described their area as a dumping site of bodies.
They also claim there are shootings daily and house break-ins where criminals invade their homes to eat their food.
One of the residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, moved to New Monwabisi Park to start a new life away from family challenges and abuse.
“I was living with my boyfriend who abuses me sexually and financially. I did not want to live here but the situation forced me. Life here is f***d up. People here come and rape you; the same thing I was running away from at home.”
Community activists say they were not shocked with the recent killings, especially in New Monwabisi Park as the place has long been used to dump bodies.
But what shocked Sinethemba Mtini, a community activist, was the number of people killed in one incident, including a woman.
“People are killed in different areas and dumped here, you’d find yourself jumping over a dead body because this area is dark.
“I am not shocked by what has happened here, what shocks me is the manner in which these people were killed, five at one go, including a woman.”
Unemployment, the use of drugs and alcohol in all these informal settlements, contributes to some of these crimes. “We also suspect that the four deceased were on drugs.
“Another contributing factor is that children are not close to schools and end up dropping out and getting involved in crime,” he said.
Residents often resort to taking the law into their own hands when they have caught criminals.
In what could be one of the longest searches, police divers were called to search for the bodies of four young men dumped in a canal along Covid-19 informal settlement, after being accused of breaking into people’s homes in September.
Two more bodies, none of them being the mob justice victims, were recovered during the early days of the search.
Western Cape police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said new informal settlements were a challenge for their officers as they lacked resources - these areas were not planned.
“This places a strain on policing resources in the areas as the South African Police Service has to police these new informal settlements.
“Difficult as it can be, police render a policing service to these communities.
With additional people moving into these precincts, the affected police stations see an increase in crime incidents recorded.”
She said the following factors were making their job difficult:
- Lack of access roads between the dwellings for police vehicles to patrol and access crime scenes.
- Poor lighting.
- Shacks not numbered for identification of addresses.
- Residents of the informal areas do not know one another.
- No leadership structures yet for consultation with police on common concern interventions.
KDF chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said: “The development of 37 new informal settlements has had a big impact on service delivery.
“There are sites that were earmarked for housing and other projects, to benefit various communities who have been waiting for years and the land where Empolweni informal settlement has been established, is an example. The land was earmarked for the expansion of basic services infrastructure. Some sites were water points.
“These areas also become hideout places for criminals. We acknowledge there are people who were hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in them losing their homes and they had to erect shacks. However people have homes and are taking advantage of the situation. We are encouraging a dialogue over this.”
Human settlements mayco member, Malusi Booi said an additional 186 new unlawfully occupied areas have been created since the start of the national Covid-19 lockdown.
He said large-scale unlawful occupations gained a new momentum over 2020 and 2021. In 2020, 26,1ha of City-owned land had been lost and in 2021, 25,5ha of City-owned land had been lost.
“Numerous newly established communities are demanding services, but currently, the City is unable to cater for these newer unplanned settlements as existing informal settlements are prioritised on the basis of available resources, which are not limitless.”
Booi said the City spent R314 million in informal settlement upgrades over the past financial year, including site and services upgrades, roadways, stormwater canal upgrades and interventions to improve health and safety and winter readiness interventions.
• Additional reporting, Okuhle Hlati
Cape Times