Philippi shack dwellers and backyarders have decried their living conditions due to a “lack of service delivery” and housing developments in the area.
This was after scores of residents from Brown’s Farm marched to the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements office and the Cape Town Civic Centre on Monday.
Community activist Thanduxolo Xokoza said the last time residents received decent services was more than 15 years ago.
“They started a housing development about a year or two ago and we were happy with that, but it suddenly stopped. They cited many reasons, including that the money has been diverted to another project.
“We have more than 20 informal settlements under Brown’s Farm, and they keep growing and this makes it impossible to manage the area, which has also become a crime hotspot.
“We went to the housing office to ask what their plans are about Philippi.
The standard of living here is bad,” he said.
Resident Popo Mgedezi said the last time people received houses was around 20 to 25 years ago.
“The elderly are dying due to ill health, when you enter the area you can smell the bad stench, it’s extremely bad, even roads are in a bad shape.
“All we want is for the people to be uplifted. The area can’t be properly policed, that is because of the density, the place is neglected,” he said.
The City said it had an “open-door policy” and took grievances seriously.
“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.There is no specific time frame which residents must wait before they may be allocated a housing opportunity as it depends on the availability of housing opportunities and whether applicants qualify when the opportunities do become available.
“It is important to remember that all housing projects have different dynamics in terms of the size of the project, the number of applicants who may qualify and the application date range for that project,” said the City.
The provincial Human Settlements Department did not respond to enquiries by deadline on Tuesday.
Cape Times