Extension 10 has been earmarked for 2 232 new RDP houses, and Makana executive mayor Zamuxolo Peter has said that police will be called in to remove people who have been building informally in the area.
Extension 10 has been earmarked for 2 232 new RDP houses, and Makana executive mayor Zamuxolo Peter has said that police will be called in to remove people who have been building informally in the area.
The mayor was speaking at an official imbizo in the Extension 9 Hall on Wednesday, set up to discuss with residents the municipality's integrated development plan. The meeting was well attended by municipal councillors, directors and Ward 5 residents, and apart from laying down the law, Peter also listened sympathetically to a litany of complaints ranging from crime to falling-down houses and dead dogs in dump sites.
First, the mayor spoke about roads. He said more upgrades had been approved and tarring would start soon on Makana Way, continuing along the Extension 9 taxi route to Joza Street, and along the road next to kwaKhaya brick construction.
Housing was the next topic and Peter expressed concern that houses built for local residents in Extension 9 were in fact being rented out by their owners, and that most of the people living there were tenants. Funds had been approved to build Extension 10, Peter said. “We are going to build 2 232 houses in Extension 10,” he said, warning that people who had been building houses on the land set aside for the new development would be removed.
“We are going to send police to chase away those residents,” said Peter. In response Thembisa Nogqala, apparently one of those who'd put up a structure on that land, said she'd been waiting for many years to own a house. “I don't even know where to go from here. I don't have a house – I've been sleeping in other residents' houses – and If the mayor wants to send police to chase me away from Extension 10, where am I going to stay?" she asked.
Another resident, Claudette Goba, said crime was increasing daily in the area. “Residents have been raped, robbed and even attacked on their houses,” said Goba. Xolisa Piyani said the Extension 9 Hall should have a name, like any other hall in Makana. Another resident said the windows in the Extension 9 houses were falling out, doors were collapsing and the houses were full of cracks. He also said Eskom didn't care.
Sondawu Betela begged the mayor to visit Transit Camp, where new houses are being built. He said their houses had been left incomplete and their furniture was being ruined. Nokulunga Mpoyi said had been years since residents were promised that Extension 8 would be extended, but this still hadn't happened. Another resident said, “I live next to the dump site and people have been throwing dead dogs, cats and other dirty things on to it."
