Bloom fights informal settlements’ battle
Informal settlement needs to be upgraded, not dismantled.
The Stoffel Park informal settlement in Mamelodi East should be upgraded rather than dismantled, says DA MPL.
Jack Bloom was speaking during a visit to the Stoffel Park informal settlement where he handed over a copy of his recently published book to resident Jimmy Nkuna.
The book is titled 30 Nights in a Shack – A Politician’s Journey, in which he pleads for the forgotten people in informal settlements to be assisted to uplift themselves.
“I was shocked to see the empty spaces where shacks had been destroyed and more than 2 000 people brutally removed to Pienaarspoort earlier this year,” said Bloom.
Jack Bloom first visited Stoffel Park in August 2013, and spent the night in Nkuna’s shack.
Nkuna, who is wheelchair bound, was threatened with forced removal to Pienaarspoort.
“It was one of more than 100 visits to informal settlements I did one day a month for two-and-a-half years, including spending the night in 30 shacks to experience what it was like to live there and see what I could do to help.
“Together with DA list councillor Magic Mampuru, I also met with Stoffel Motloutsi, the founder of the settlement, who expressed to me that residents wanted to stay and have proper services provided.”
Bloom said he was pleased, on the one hand, the council had fixed the bridge the residents built to access the area, and that gravel had been put on the main sand road.
“On the other hand, residents told me how the council had forcibly relocated people without any warning, picking on female-headed households who provided the least resistance.
“They said Pienaarspoort was a bleak place without services.
“Stoffel Park residents have invested a lot of effort and money in setting up this settlement which is on council-owned land.
“There are a number of brick houses in Stoffel Park and many other sturdy structures residents have built.”
The DA has taken its fight to prevent forced removals to the SA Human Rights Commission.
“I hope the Tshwane metro recognises the human rights of Stoffel Park residents and provides them with title deeds and proper services,” said Bloom.
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