Squatters continue to stream in

An informal settlement that sprang up almost a year ago is still growing steadily with more informal dwellers setting up camp almost daily.

The informal settlement, Witfontein 230 and 231 on the corner of Boundary and Third streets, Akasia has grown from a mere six shacks into a full-blown informal settlement with dozens of shacks and a shebeen.

According to Councillor Marnette Sutherland, the owner of the property is dead and the responsibility of the ownership of the land was being disputed in court.

In the meantime, squatters continue to stream in. “Listen to the hammering in the distance, that is more people putting up shacks,” Sutherland said while visiting the site with Rekord.

She explained that the case was currently being handled by the council and that the inhabitants would, in due time, be relocated to alternative housing. She added that there were, at this stage, already hundreds of inhabitants living in the informal settlement and that it had become a serious health hazard.

“There are no sanitation, water or waste removal facilities available, making the settlement an unsanitary environment and a health problem.” David Masubelele, one of the inhabitants living in the settlement, claimed the lack of sanitation facilities meant that many people used the bushes to relieve themselves. “I have been living here since the owner has been gone, so I have access to a toilet. But all of these people here do not have toilets so they use the bushes everyday instead.”

Rekord reported last year that business owners were also worried about the squatter camp and its growth.

At the time, George Bentley, the owner of a lodge in the area, said that the informal settlement was a huge concern because he owned a R40m lodge that was only a stone’s throw away.

“What will happen to the value of our properties? Just thinking about it makes my blood boil,” he told Rekord.