Cape Town - The entire process of relocating Siyahlala informal settlement residents that encroached on Prasa railway lines to a 27 hectare piece of land just outside Philippi will cost more than R15 million.
According to Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, the government was reaping the fruits of the former Prasa management that had “dropped the ball” and failed to act when the first few shacks were erected.
About a thousand people erected shacks in the Langa railway line in 2019 after the Central Line corridor was temporarily closed due to extensive vandalism and theft.
Last year the Western Cape High Court granted Prasa an order to relocate the families to suitable land, saying that residents should have houses and basic services.
The Housing Development Agency (HDA) is leading the relocation project.
“There were no leaders in Prasa, people said they were working but when I came here it could not be pointed out what was being done. We paid billions of rand to security companies that were irregularly appointed. I f we had security agencies and management that were running this railway in Western Cape we would not be here today. So this is the price we are paying. However, we have since made strides and worked hard together with different stakeholders, including the City and province, to see the progress that we have made,” said Mbalula.
He was speaking at the Philippi site on Tuesday where he was joined by officials from different spheres, and Siyahlala community leaders as the Cape Town to Langa via Pinelands, and Langa to Bellville via Sarepta lines were reopened.
This forms part of phase 1 of the Central Line recovery programme.
Prasa board chairperson Leonard Ramatlakane said that since a limited train service would be operating, the informal settlement had been fenced off for safety.
Siyahlala informal settlement committee chairperson, Mxoleleni Ngwetyana, said they were pleased with the site and happy to be moved there.
Human settlements mayco member Malusi Booi said that the land had been purchased through the HDA, and they were confident it would be ready by the November deadline.
“The Langa families are part of phase one, and a portion of the Bekela Philippi families will join here. The families will relocate with their structures because of budget constraints, however there is a discussion to upgrade the structures and use alternative building technology. The second phase is moving the rest of the Bekela people and the ones in Khayelitsha to Macassar, but negotiations are still ongoing.”
Cape Times