Residents of Siyahlala informal settlement who erected shacks on railway tracks in Langa are willing to be relocated.
They built the informal settlement on Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) land which saw the train service on the central line being put into a halt.
Last month, Prasa issued the residents with an eviction order.
Community leader Mxoleleni Ngutyana said they are aware of the eviction order and they are not against moving.
“We are not against being moved, all we want is to be relocated not to be evicted forcefully,” he said.
He said they want to be relocated to an area where they will get electricity, water, be close to schools, clinics and a police station.
Ngutyana said they have heard of talks of where they are meant to be moved to but they haven’t seen it.
“If we are not happy with where we are being relocated to, we will tell Prasa and if they don’t have another plan we will go back to where we are.”
He said they heard that there will be a site visit to where they will be moved between them and the authorities.
He said they do not even know if they will be moved to a vacant land or a place that already has a community.
A resident Mlondolozi Magqabi said if the relocation is done in a manner that is satisfactory to all of them, all will go smoothly.
Magqabi reiterated Ngutyana’s words that they do not want to be moved forcefully.
“If we are evicted by force this will be another Marikana massacre because we will lose a lot,” said Magqabi.
Prasa spokesperson Bane Ndlovu said they have plans to resume passenger rail service to service the central line corridor and the continued occupation of the rail reserve has a direct negative impact on this plan, therefore, it will not be possible to run passenger rail service without the people being moved from the rail reserve.
“The Western Cape High Court has issued an eviction order which needs to be carried over within four months, on or about November 26. The eviction order had not been followed through as it is necessary to make ready alternative relocation site(s) for the people to be moved to,” he said.
Ndlovu said the next step is to ensure the alternative land parcels are available and ready to accommodate the residents.
Weekend Argus