A local ward councillor has pleaded for residents’ patience when it comes to the Gomorrah informal settlement.
This as residents from the neighbouring Booysens suburb residents raised their concerns about an increase in crime and illegal dumping on the settlement’s outskirts.
Many of them consider this to be the destruction of the wetland area.
“Residents have to understand that the city council processes haven’t been followed to the liking of residents of both the suburb and the settlement, and certainly not mine,” said ward councillor for the area Frik van Wyk.
“But this is how thing are being done by state officials.”
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The settlement has been a thorn in the side of Booysens residents for some time in recent years after settlers were promised stands by local government on which low cost housing, water and electricity will be supplied.
Van Wyk explained that construction of the low-cost housing in the area is different from other RDP developments, as the residents are already living on the stands where the houses are meant to be built.
“Phase one has been underway for a while now I need local residents to be patient,” he continued.
“I am just as upset that the process is so slow. I’m aware of the illegal dumping and a lack of cooperation from the community to stop polluting in the area. It is a massive undertaking to maintain the borders between the settlement and the residential area.”
He said that this is not just a problem in Booysens, it also stretches across the whole of the Tshwane district.
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“No one wants the wetland to run dry and Tshwane city council is required to do all development planning around it. A study was done to ascertain the wetland borders and all planning is being done around this study.”
He attended a meeting this past weekend with stakeholders of the surrounding agricultural holdings where the issue was raised again in the presence of housing and development representatives.
“I highlighted that protection of the wetland is a priority and they have undertaken to visit the area with other members of Tshwane governance soon,” he said in conclusion.
“One morning we will wake up and Gomorrah won’t be an informal settlement anymore. It’s not going to be an informal settlement forever, but it’s a slow process.”
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