- After years of delays, the Mogale City mayor says the Brickvale RDP housing project is again on monitor at a price of R1 billion.
- But about 100 households, lots of whom have been on the property for a number of many years, are refusing to maneuver into the event.
- They say the homes are tiny, the plots are too small they usually will be unable to farm.
- The Freedom Front Plus says the land is dolomitic and unsuited for housing as there’s a hazard of sinkholes.
Since its inception, the Brickvale housing project, which has ballooned to price R1 billion, has been fraught with controversy. The 6 480-unit improvement is now apparently again on monitor after years of delays. But about 100 households – of whom 60 have lived on the outdated Brickvale farm for dozens of years – are refusing to maneuver.
Mayoral spokesperson Phemelo Motoma informed GroundUp on Monday that some models could be handed over in December and the project could be finalised in three years.
But Brickvale residents say the brand new homes are solely 40m2, are too shut collectively, the encompassing plots are too small, and the project is unsuitable for his or her livelihoods.
Many of the residents used to earn a small stipend making bricks. They had been allowed to reside on the farm free of charge, in wood shacks and dirt homes.
When the farm proprietor left in 2004 they continued to reside there, some searching for work on close by farms. But in 2014 they had been informed to depart by a relative of the previous proprietor. They say they had been threatened and informed their properties could be bulldozed. Some fled to close by casual settlements. Some had been moved to Matshelapad. Others refused to budge.
The controversial and long-delayed Brickvale housing improvement is supposed to create over 6 000 properties on the West Rand’s Mogale City, Gauteng. Image: Kimberly Mutandiro/GroundUp
Why individuals are refusing to maneuver
Kenny Marope, 87, mentioned he has been residing on the farm since February 1962, when he earned R2.50 a month making bricks. It was sufficient, he says, to purchase meals and garments.
Marope’s two youngsters reside with him and he has rooms which he rents out to tenants. He retains chickens and has a big backyard the place he rotates numerous crops – maize, pumpkins and groundnuts.
“What I need is a big plot to accommodate my chickens and garden, not a small RDP house,” he mentioned.
Kenny Marope has been residing on the farm since 1962. He farms maize, pumpkins and groundnuts. Image: Kimberly Mutandiro/GroundUp
Kedibone Medupi arrived 30 years in the past to affix her now late husband who was the tractor driver on the farm. She retains chickens and has a meals backyard.
She additionally collects empty tins which she sells in Randfontein for recycling. Moving is unthinkable, she says.
“The government should just build me a house where l am, so that I can continue living as before. It was not my husband’s wish for us to be moved because he worked for this land,” says Medupi.
Steven Sithole discovered work on the farm in 1987. He survives now on recycling and lives along with his spouse and kids.
“This is the only home my family and I have known. It would make no sense if we left,” he mentioned.
Steven Sithole earns a residing by recycling. He has lived on the farm for 35 years. Image: Kimberly Mutandiro/GroundUp
Gabriel, whose surname we’ve got withheld, got here to the farm from Bulawayo nearly 50 years in the past – in 1973. His solely citizen documentation is a Zimbabwean passport.
“This is my home too and it would break my heart to be evicted,” he mentioned. Like different undocumented immigrants, he’s afraid he wouldn’t qualify for an RDP home and might be left homeless if he leaves.
The households say they’ve acquired no written notices or court docket orders, however they’re being harassed and verbally threatened with eviction.
They have turned to Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) for assist.
David Dickinson of LHR mentioned that 60 of the 100 households are long-term occupiers with Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) rights.
LHR has written a letter on behalf of the residents to indicate any municipal official ought to there be additional threats of eviction.
It states that each one occupiers on Brickvale have the constitutional proper to not be evicted nor have their properties demolished with no court docket order. LHR is keen to facilitate a negotiated settlement.
Mogale City spokesperson Tshegofatso Kotsi mentioned the municipality was not evicting anybody because the land was beneath the possession of the Gauteng authorities, and referred GroundUp to the province to get solutions.
But Gauteng Province spokesperson Luzuko Pongoma kicked the ball again to Mogale City, saying “all questions about this project should instead be referred to the Mogale City Municipality”.
Controversial project
In 2018, Freedom Front Plus councillors requested questions concerning the project, particularly why R63 million was paid by the Gauteng Province for a property valued at lower than R3 million.
“I’ve asked them so many times why they bought it for so much money. It didn’t make sense,” says Amanda de Lange, former councillor within the space and now a member of the Gauteng provincial legislature.
Freedom Front Plus councillors additionally raised purple flags concerning the security of a housing improvement constructed on land with a historical past of mining exercise and underlying dolomite, a sort of rock liable to sinkholes.
According to a March 2021 Metroplan ready for the West Rand District and Mogale City Local municipalities, the Brickvale improvement is “embroiled in controversy”. The report additionally warns concerning the dolomitic situations.
A high-tech video of the event might be seen on the contractor’s website here.
GroundUp requested the corporate, Temi Construction, to touch upon the difficulty of dolomite every week in the past, however we’ve got acquired none.
© 2022 GroundUp. This article was first revealed here.
