Tshwane commits to 5-year plan to address Cemetery and Plastic View informal settlements

The Tshwane metro aims to improve living conditions for only a few hundred of the about 18 000 residents who live in Cemetery and Plastic View informal settlements by the next five years.

The metro said it expects the relocation of Cemetery and Plastic View informal settlement dwellers to begin unfolding in the 2028/2029 financial year, which will offer better living conditions for a portion of the residents living in these informal settlements.

The move from the fire-prone structures in the east of Pretoria will only be for qualifying beneficiaries.

The metro confirmed that they will be relocated and provided with government-subsidised houses.

The city has appointed civil engineers, architects, and construction health and safety agents for service designs and preparation of the land for relocation.

The push to move these residents by 2029 comes as ratepayers in the east have been fighting tooth and nail to get court orders to evict them from the informal settlements.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said it must be noted that due to the existing court order, it was difficult for the city to implement certain measures.

“In preventing the land invasion, the city evicted the illegal occupants of Cemetery View informal settlement on July 21, 2010.”

He said a case was brought to the North Gauteng High Court by two parties against the metro for the city to provide the evicted illegal occupiers with relief.

This was after the city had demolished the informal structures in Cemetery View.

Mashigo said the court ordered the city to provide emergency relief to the individuals whose shelters were destroyed and who were evicted from the remaining portion 284 of the Garsfontein farm in 2010 in the form of temporary shelters.

“This led parties to engage and resolve on the settlement that became the order of the court dated August 18, 2010.”

According to Mashigo, the condition of the settlement was that the city would eventually provide alternative accommodation for the qualifying beneficiaries.

“The city provides rudimentary services to Cemetery View in the form of 10 000 litres of mobile water daily and 14 chemical toilets serviced twice a week.”

Mashigo said the multi-disciplinary team had been appointed for 36 months to oversee the service designs, development of the Site Development Plan (SDP), and architecture services at the land in Pretorius Park Ext 40.

He said Pretorius Park will comprise a total of 863 housing units of which 300 will be fully government-subsidised units and the remaining units will be social housing rental stock.

Mashigo said the relocation process is done in consultation with beneficiaries and all interested stakeholders.

“As the current case is a subject of the court order, all will be consulted within the context of the court order.”

He said the project had been submitted to the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements for gazetting regarding the construction of top structures in the 2022/2023 to 2024/25 Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework (MTREF) on March 22, 2022.

He added that a contractor for the construction of the water reticulation, sewer reticulation and internal roads and stormwater network for Pretorius Park is expected to be appointed towards the end of the 25/26 financial year on a 24-month contract.

Mashigo added that the Pretorius Park Ext 40 development application was submitted to the Economic Development Land Spatial Planning Department in November 2019.

“The township planning was amended and resubmitted in March 2020, after numerous objections against the development from neighbouring property owners and homeowner associations, civil society organisations active in the area and legal battles. The land development application [was] served at the Municipal Planning Tribunal in August 2022.

“The Pretorius Park Ext 40 (Conditions of Establishment and Layout Plan) was approved on January 3, 2023.”

Mashigo said the city has undertaken all measures at its disposal to establish Pretorius Park Ext 40 as a sustainable human settlement.

“This settlement will integrate the poor into the affluent Garsfontein area, in pursuit of spatial transformation and integration principles espoused in Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, (Act No 16 of 2013, “SPLUMA”).”

He said Cemetery View informal settlement has 866 households and Plastic View has over 900 households comprising families.

“While the city is currently developing Pretorius Park Ext 40 as a permanent resettlement area for qualifying households, many of the illegal occupants will not be accommodated due to their status in the country.”

He said the city has been pursuing engagements with the Department of Home Affairs in this regard to ensure the department executes its Constitutional mandate.

“With the previous fire that engulfed the Cemetery View informal settlement in September 2023, some community members in the neighbouring areas obtained a court order. It clearly states the Department of Home Affairs must conduct a verification [process] and deport those that are undocumented.”

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