Flood victims, EFF demand relocation
“We as Tshwane EFF are going to ensure that the relocation takes place and promises are fulfilled.”
Frustrated by year after year of empty promises, displaced flood victims took to the streets and marched to Tshwane House for answers.
Hundreds marched under the leadership of Tshwane EFF on June 30 to hand over a memorandum of concerns following years of empty promises.
Tshwane EFF leader Bongani Ramontja said: “We as Tshwane EFF are going to ensure that promises are fulfilled.”
He said residents in communities displaced by floods are affected by criminal activity.
“The human rights of displaced people are violated and we say enough is enough,” said Ramontja.
He said since Mamelodi flood disaster on December 9 2019, victims had been made empty promise after empty promise by ministers, MECs and MMCs.
The marchers are flood victims from Marikana, Eerste Fabrieke, Willow farm, Soul City and Mavuso squatter camps.
Ramontja said floods forced a number of people homeless into community halls, library and churches after they lost their shacks and personal belongings such as IDs, Sassa cards, birth certificates, groceries and furniture.
“The City of Tshwane informed flood victims that it had identified two plots to buy and procurement negotiations with the land owners were at the advanced stage,” he said.
The Tshwane metro promised to make sure that the correct people would be allocated a place of residence,” said Ramnotja.
He said the empty promises date back to December 2019, when Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, visited the floods victims at Nellmapius community hall and the then Gauteng premier David Makhura visited Mamelodi baptist church. Makhura promised that a committee had been established to relocate them before the end of January 2021.
He said Makhura established the committee to drafting the final process to relocate the victims, and two portions of land to move the affected victims were identified.
“In January 2022, we were hit again by floods, and because MEC Lebogang Maile had informed us that the province had bought the land, we gave him an instruction to relocate us to a safer place by April 2023 yet to date we are still waiting,” said Ramontja.
Samuel Simbini (66) said: “We were told that our relocation to a safer place was under way and we were given blankets and food while we waited for a couple of months.”
He said the library, where some of the flood victims were staying, was supposed to be temporary accommodation while the government was looking for a safer place.
“It was about time that Tshwane human settlements relocated them,” he added.
“We are giving Tshwane House seven days to respond… failure to do so we will be forced to shut Tshwane House down.
“In the meantime the flood victims will go to the identified land, which is our place, and wait for Tshwane to bring services.”
He said this was a matter of urgency and it was about time the people get what belongs to them.
Tshwane Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana received the memorandum on behalf of Tshwane House and promised to escalate the memorandum to the relevant people.
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