- Over 100 people were left homeless after a fire damaged more than 30 shacks and 10 hostels in Langa’s Special Quarters, prompting the City of Cape Town to begin refurbishment work.
- Ward 51 councillor Lwazi Pakade assured victims that repairs would include new roofs, ceilings, windows and doors.
- The City’s human settlements department highlighted the challenges of addressing housing demands, with approximately 340 000 applicants on the Housing Needs Register.
Hostel fire victims at Special Quarters in Langa are thrilled by the City’s refurbishing of their homes after they had been damaged during a fire, a month ago.
More than 30 shacks and 10 hostels were affected during the incident and left more than 100 people homeless (“Fire victims appeal for help”, City Vision, 23 January.)
The incident was followed by another two shack fire incidents, one at SST informal settlement in Town Two (“SST shack fire victims demand houses,” City Vision, 30 January) and other one in Taiwan informal settlement, Site C (“Yet another big Site C fire,” City Vision, 6 February).
The refurbishment started on Thursday 6 February and is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.
One of the hostel owners, Funeka Williams, urged the City to speed up the process. She presently stays with her family in Zone 12.
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“I lost everything in the fire. I was sleeping when the fire started. When I woke up the flames were starting to come through the windows. I grabbed my two children and ran out,” said Williams, adding that all she wants is to return to her house.
Ward 51 councillor Lwazi Pakade said the City would fix the entire hostels. He said they will fix the roofs, rebuild some cracked walls, and plaster them.
“After they are completed, they will put in a new ceiling, windows, doors and paint the walls. It will take about two weeks to complete everything,” explained Pakade. He urged the fire victims to be patient and work with the contract workers.
While City Vision visited these affected areas (Special Quaters in Langa, SST informal settlements in Town Two and Taiwan in Site C) some of the victims complained about the lack of service delivery in their communities.
They said they have stayed in the shacks for over two decades.
City Vision asked the City about its plans regarding the areas.
The City’s mayco member for human settlements Carl Pophaim said the City looks at the personal circumstances of residents to ascertain if they qualify for aid in terms of housing support or other programmes such as informal settlement upgrades where feasible and matched with available opportunities. He said not all residents in areas affected would have the same housing qualification circumstances and many settlements have profound barriers to upgrading, such as densely populated, private land or situated on bulk services infrastructure.
“The City is providing housing opportunities (BNG opportunities, Social housing and public housing opportunities) to qualified beneficiaries across the city. Beneficiaries of all City housing projects are allocated in accordance with our Allocation Policy and the date of registration on our Housing Needs Register. This is to ensure that housing opportunities are provided to qualifying applicants in a fair, transparent and equal manner, and to prevent queue jumping,” he stated, adding that the City’s human settlements budget is about R7,6 billion for the next years and it focuses on public housing upgrades, affordable housing in well-located areas, subsidy housing, and a drive to transfer City rental units to tenants and the upgrading of informal settlements (on City owned land) across the metro.
Pophaim said the demand for human settlement opportunities are acute and the City acts within what is feasible and within land and financial resources available.
He said approximately 340 000 applicants are reflected as ‘awaiting a housing opportunity’ on the City’s Housing Needs Register.
“It must also be noted the register is not static, as opportunities are awarded to beneficiaries, they are removed from the database, and new beneficiaries are added. Due to demand, and to be fair, those registered for the longest are assisted first. This is not a unique aspect to Cape Town,” he emphasised.
Pophaim stated that the waiting period depends on when the person applied, where, and what opportunities are available like land, financial resources and other factors.
“The City is dependent on national government grants, and housing budgets have been reducing. However, the City cannot be the sole provider of opportunities. We need greater subsidies from national and greater public private partnerships in light of the continued high rate of urbanisation,” he said.