Residents of the Alaska informal settlement in Mamelodi east are demanding answers from the City of Tshwane regarding the status of their imminent relocation.
Scores of community members gathered in the area on Saturday, hoping to receive information from the municipality as to why they had not been relocated as promised.
In 2019, then-mayor Stevens Mokgalapa promised them they would be relocated by last year and that land had been secured in this regard.
When this did not happen, the community warned in June that they would take to the streets.
The informal settlement has about 5 000 residents who have occupied the land since 2007.
Among their issues is that the municipality had not serviced the area. The settlement does not receive basic services such as electricity, running water and sewerage facilities because it is in a green belt which should not be inhabited. As a result, some community members have resorted to illegal electricity connections.
Speaking to the Pretoria News at the weekend, community leader Peter Mamatlepa said were waiting for an answer as to whether they would be moving from the area.
“This area is not right to live in because, according to the municipality, it’s a green belt. We have no electricity here and no basic services. They keep promising us that they’ll be moving us somewhere where we’ll get services.”
Mamatlepa said that in the latest document addressed to them, they were supposed to have been relocated by April this year, but only the first phase of the process had been completed and many more remained behind, not knowing when they would move.
“So far, the municipality has moved the people who lived near the K-64 that connects to the N4 as part of the first phase. They are yet to move the rest of us.”
Explaining the delays, acting chief of staff in the City of Tshwane, Jordan Griffiths, said: “A large part of this process hinges on finding suitable alternative land for relocations and this hinges on the metro’s financial situation. The City has to effectively purchase land that can be used for development.”
Pretoria News