Residents left out in cold after Marikana informal settlement evictions

Recent evictions from the Marikana informal settlement near Centurion’s Gautrain station have sent shockwaves across nearby settlements as residents fear being attacked and evicted with the onset of winter.

After the evictions at Marikana, some residents found temporary shelter at neighbouring settlements. But these settlements also feared evictions and alleged attacks.

ALSO READ: Gauteng housing flop: Residents in desperate need of dignified housing

A resident, Maria Mabilo, said: “We know we are not safe. We are expecting them to come in at any minute. And after what happened in Marikana, we know we are not safe.”

Left stranded

The mother of three said despite pleading with the government to help the residents with temporary shelter, it seemed their cries had fallen on deaf ears, “because you would think that with their plan to evict people from their homes, they had a plan in mind of where to take us”.

However, some residents whose shacks were burnt during the evictions have been left stranded in the cold with no clothes, food and identity documents.

Mpho Mothapo, who hails from Limpopo, came to Gauteng to seek employment. He said that on Tuesday, after a long day of job-seeking, he had returned to a burnt shack with all his belongings burnt beyond recognition.

“I don’t have a roof over my head, I don’t have anything to my name – my ID, matric certificate and clothes have been burnt. Now I can’t even go look for a job anymore because I can’t produce any documentation,” he added.

“When I first came here, they promised us houses – and we were not even asking for too much. We made a home even in those areas and they still took that away from us.”

No means to build or relocate

Another resident who has also been left stranded, Philip Shenge from KwaZulu-Natal, also lost all his belongings.

“We’ve been sleeping in this veld since Tuesday. We have no means to build anymore, or even to relocate.

“A lot of the men you see here came to Gauteng to look for employment and provide for their families, but all that has been lost,” Shenge said.

“All we are asking from the government is to give us the houses we applied for; the houses they promised us. Or at least allow us the space to build our own homes,” he said.

ALSO READ: Tenderpreneurs ‘gain by us being here’, say informal settlement residents

Meanwhile, the Gauteng provincial legislature human settlements portfolio committee expressed concerns on Thursday over budget cuts for municipalities which already had projects under way. It indicated that this was affecting service delivery and reaching targets which was leading to backlogs.

“The committee is concerned about the lack of improvement on spending,” said chair Alphina Ndlovana. “The department’s monitoring of human settlement projects is generally poor.”

During the financial year 2023-24, the department planned to deliver 9 267 housing units (4 472 mega housing units and 4 795 legacy housing units); 8 885 serviced stands (6 549 mega serviced stands and 2 336 legacy serviced stands).

“The continuous increase in target-setting, where the previous financial year’s performance should serve as a lesson learned, is very worrisome,” she said.