East residents ‘gatvol’.
Residents want action, following riots at the weekend in the east of the city.
Residents are ‘gatvol’ at the increasing population within an informal settlement believed to be a harbour for most criminals in the east of the Pretoria.
Woodhill area residents say they have had enough after two people were killed in Plastic View at the weekend.
Megan Greyvenstein who lives about a kilometre from the eastern squatter camp said security was an important issue when discussing Plastic View.
She said people selected certain areas to live for their safety.
“It is unfortunate that we have to live with the current situation but the area is a problem,” Greyvenstein said.
She said working at awkward hours and arriving home, waiting for the gate to open was dangerous.
Greyvenstein mentioned the riot on Sunday when two people were killed and said this demonstrated how unsafe the area was.
Another local who asked not to be named had a different view, “Plastic view residents live under extremely poor conditions. Everyone has a right to a place to live and I feel the majority of people in the surrounding areas only want to pose blame on people who cannot defend themselves.”
She said when meeting a few Plastic View residents she had discovered some of them were artists, farmers and even teachers and had no other choice but to live inside the dusty community.
“We judge people first instead of trying to understand where they come from,” she said.
DA ward 91 councillor Lex Middleberg said a court interdict was submitted to the metro in 2009 in an attempt to address the increasing number of residents of Plastic View.
Middleberg said in 2009 only about 1 000 people occupied the informal settlement when the interdict was submitted.
“The matter could have been addressed then, with a solution. Now the population stands at over 3 000 people, with some of them being undocumented foreign nationals.”
Middleberg said proper communication was needed by the metro with a way forward.
The Tshwane metro responded to Middleberg’s allegations.
Mayoral spokesperson Blessing Manale said the city could not succeed in removing the residents in 2009 due to an interdict preventing such action.
Manale said the metro was at a stand-off with Plastic View representatives in an attempt to find a solution.
“The metro is in advanced negotiations with lawyers from the human rights committee, acting on behalf of the Plastic View residents to discuss available options when the land is sold on auction,” he said.
Also read:
Man killed in Garsfontein riot
Situation calm after two were murdered in the east
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