Families residing in a Gugulethu community hall have lost hope of a more permanent residence, blaming the ward councillor and City of Cape Town of neglecting them.
The Luyolo Community Hall has been a home to more than 15 families since February 2017, after they were forced to live there on what was meant to be temporary basis.
The families had illegally invaded the land that was earmarked for the Luyolo housing project, near the hall and were relocated there so construction could begin.
Their lives are now stagnant, they say, as they don’t have anywhere to go.
Speaking on behalf of the families, Zoliswa Sandlwana described their living conditions as appalling.
There is no privacy and it is cold during the winter season, she says.
“As you see the hall is leaking when it is raining. It is cold here. There are only four flushing toilets for more than 80 people, including children. And all of the toilets are leaking and no one is coming to fix them. Life is tough here but we are enduring because we don’t have a choice,” she says, adding there is a three-year-old child who was born while they are living there.
She says they have been speaking to the media hoping the government would come to their aid, but nothing has happened.
Most of them are unemployed and are surviving from children’s grants.
“Each person has his or her own groceries. But, when another person doesn’t have something to eat, we share. We are united here and we don’t have squabbles,” she says.
Sandlwana says they have drafted rules for all the people living in the hall to ensure that there is peace and order.
“No one is allowed to have sexual intercourse in the hall. If there are people who want to engage in sex they must go outside and look for a place because we have elders here. We respect each other here. And we don’t allow alcohol inside the hall,” she explains.
The hall is also locked at 21:00 every day, she says.
Ward 40 councillor, Bongani Ngcombolo. says they are aware of the conditions that the families are living under.
He says he will engage the mayor to convince him to do something about this matter.
“I was against the families being allowed to stay in the hall in the first place, but the community supported them. I wanted the City to find them (another) temporary place to stay,” he says.
Ngcombolo says some of the families who are living in the hall are the beneficiaries of Luyolo Housing Development.
“The Luyolo construction site has been suspended several times and that has caused delays. Even now the construction has been suspended after there was a shooting in November last year. There are other people who are not the beneficiaries of the Luyolo housing project that were going to be relocated to the temporary houses. But, it is not clear where the City is going to relocate them to because there is no land,” says Ngcombolo.
The provincial department of Infrastructure’s deputy director of communication, Muneera Allie says the department and the contractors are in the final stages of terminating the current contract and working to appoint a new contractor.
“The Department is also developing security risk mitigation measures to ensure the safety of workers and contractor remains a priority. The resumption of works cannot be confirmed at this stage since this depends on the process of appointing a new contractor, as well as the security risk mitigation measures to be finalised,” she says.
The Airport Infills Project, which Luyolo forms part of, is estimated to yield 729 units which include an estimated 455 Breaking New Ground (BNG) and 274 high density units for qualifying and deserving beneficiaries, says Allie.
“The Luyolo project, as part of the Airport Infills Project, has a budget allocation of R364 million. The project includes the development of five sites in the greater Gugulethu area. These five infill sites include Luyolo, Tambo Village, Gxagxa (erf 301 and 302), New Rest and Lusaka,” says Allie.
When City Vision visited the families on Sunday 23 April, the hall was a mess and the conditions of their daily struggles were evident.
The roof was leaking and the residents had put buckets and papers on the floor to catch the water.
There were more than 10 double beds in the hall for different families. Other families are sleeping in what was supposed to be changing rooms.
And every person was minding their own business.