Victims of floods in Mamelodi will finally have a place to call home after the City of Tshwane started a process to relocate them from the Nellmapius Community Hall where they have been staying since February, last year.
Residents from Mountain View, Mavuso and Willow Farm informal settlements were left displaced after heavy rains washed away their homes.
Earlier this year, the victims complained about the previous administration’s unfulfilled promises to relocate them to habitable land.
They remained unimpressed even after the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements assured them that it was working with the City of Tshwane on a relocation plan.
About 200 flood victims previously told the Pretoria News that they felt hopeless because of the government’s broken promises to relocate them by December last year but then postponed to April 2023.
Their dreams of a better place were finally fulfilled this week when MMC for Human Settlements Ofentse Madzebatela announced their relocation to Leeuwfontein Extension 27.
Madzebatela said: “I am pleased to report to our residents that the city has started with the relocation of the Mamelodi flood victims. The relocation also includes beneficiaries from several areas that erected structures on uninhabitable land.”
In total, he said, more than 500 households will be relocated.
“This township developable, near major roads, with future plans to establish a formal township. The 500 households include the flood victims and beneficiaries from Seven Seven, Eerste Fabrieke, Phomolong, Mamelodi Phase 1 and Mamelodi Extension 17 that had erected their shacks along flood lines, wetlands, municipal servitudes and a municipal hall, thus rendering their areas undevelopable,” Madzebatela said.
The relocation is expected to be completed by the end of December.
“The City has always taken the plight of the flood victims seriously and worked tirelessly to identify suitable land for the victims. We remain committed to improving the lives of residents and building a working capital city for all,” Madzebatela said.
Pretoria News