Shaka’s Head squatter numbers still rising
A man who has lived in the settlement since October last year, said if he received a decent income he would happily find another place to live.
Unemployment and lack of income are the core reasons for the growing number of illegal dwellers settling in Shaka’s Head.
Squatters first began occupying municipal land and erecting shacks in March 2020 during the Covid level 5 lockdown.
Since then, the numbers have continued to rise with hundreds of shacks now in evidence.
The Courier reported on the issue last November, with the KwaDukuza municipality saying at the time that it had approached the court to evict the invaders and provide support to individuals who had to evict illegal squatters from their land.
“The municipality cannot afford to accommodate land invaders while we still have a backlog of residents waiting for their RDP houses,” said municipal spokesman Sipho Mkhize last year.
One squatter told the Courier that he had settled in Shaka’s Head this year out of desperation.
“I survive on part-time jobs and also collect scrap metal to sell. We do not pay anyone to put up a shack, you just ask your would-be neighbour for permission,” the man said, who was found collecting scrap from an illegal dumpsite next to the informal settlement.
Another man, who has lived in the settlement since October last year, said that if he received a decent income, he would happily find another place to live.
“The conditions we live under here are inhuman, but I have no choice. My salary is not enough to cover taxi fares and pay for rent. Staying here allows me to at least walk to Ballito and back. I do not want to be here but am only trying to survive like everyone else,” said the young man, who said he also takes care of his two children and four siblings at their rural home.
Shaka’s Head councillor Jetro Banda has been engaging the people from the illegal settlement, but said he could not comment on what the municipality was planning to do.
“These people are desperate, they are underpaid or not employed. They are not in Shaka’s Head because they like it, but because it is closest to their places of work and they cannot afford rent,” said Banda.
KwaDukuza municipality spokesperson Sipho Mkhize said matters related to the illegal dwellings in Shaka’s Head were now sub judice (‘before the court’).
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