Cape Town _ Irate Backyard dwellers in Parkwood are demanding answers on a planned housing development in the area they claim has excluded them.
Residents from the area located along the M5 said for decades they felt forgotten and the Western Cape Department of Human Settlement’s actions regarding a new development affirmed their belief.
The backyard dwellers said they were tipped off about the new housing development planned for Plantation Road, which was reported to include more than 5 000 homes.
According to information that the community has, the development is expected to be constructed on a 55Ha site in Ottery. Construction is expected to begin in October next year and completed in 2026.
Pastor Paul Phillips, 54, a community leader in Parkwood, said backyard dwellers were angered by their exclusion from important meetings, despite a promise of their participation in the project.
“Five years ago the Parkwood community had an uprising, demanding that our housing needs be addressed. Back then the (MEC) was Bonginkosi (Madikizela), he promised that he would do site visits for possible housing developments and discuss it with us.
“Fast forward to today and we are having to hear things, letters being secretly passed to us, decisions being made excluding the possible beneficiaries, those who fought for this,” Phillips said.
Phillips said they would have appreciated the move more if the public was included.
“We appreciate this (development) but it's frustrating because there are backyard dwellers living here for more than 30 years waiting to feel included.Parkwood (residents are) always the last people standing in the queue for good things, but as soon as we stand up then we are (kept) quiet,” he said.
One of the backyard dweller Aminah de Beer, 40, has been on a waiting list for close to 20 years. The mom of eight lives with her husband who has a heart condition while she herself struggles with asthma.
De Beer said when she heard about the planned development she immediately wanted answers.
“I want to know, is this it? Do we finally get a chance to improve our living (condition) because myself and my husband have been following the process for years, we’ve been patient, and now we again sitting without answers.
“It's just not right that we are not included. Not in meetings, not in decision making and also not in (the) planning,” she said.
Dominique Booysen, the chairperson of the Parkwood Backyard Association, believed such actions from officials will have a domino effect on the community.
“Our people weren't even approached for job opportunities to work on the site, why not? Also, is it only Parkwood’s backyard dwellers who will be beneficiaries or will other people also move in there?
“If they’re building 5 000 units as we heard, obviously that is enough to accommodate the 5 000 backyarders in our communities, we want answers,” said Booysen.
Booysen said it was time that the Parkwood community be recognised.
“I feel as if Parkwood is the side-lined community. A forgotten one. We here fighting legally as a registered organisation for 18 years, and still we don’t have the support. It’s inhuman to be treated like this every time,” Booysen said.
However, the Department of Human Settlement’s Nathan Adriaanse said that the Greater Retreat Housing Project was still in the planning stages and that no beneficiaries had been allocated.
“The potential beneficiaries will be sourced from sub council 18 (Lotus River, Grassy Park, Ottery, as well as Parkwood) and sub council 20 (Hout Bay, Constantia, Wynberg, Westlake, Plumstead and Kirstenhof).
“There are no percentage allocations that have been allocated for specific suburbs yet, as we are in the planning stage.
“No houses have been built at this stage,” he said.
On Saturday residents of Parkwood were expected to host a mass picket over the development.