More than 6000 gather for Disteneng meeting

POLOKWANE – The municipality’s plan of resettling the thousands of people residing at the Disteneng informal settlement failed on Sunday due to logistical and security reasons.

Municipal communications manager, Tidimalo Chuene, said the resettlement process was supposed to have started on Sunday and unfold over the next five weekends.

She said more than 6 000 people, even those from outside Disteneng, turned up for the community meeting on Sunday and created a logistical and security challenge for municipal staff.

According to Chuene, it was then agreed with the affected community that the municipality would have to look for an ideal venue with access control where issues of residents that are eligible for resettlement would be processed.

“The municipality is considering venue options and this will be presented to the community for consent. We are hopeful that this process will be sorted out promptly and resettlement done and finalised before the start of the festive season,” she said.

About 1 719 people were supposed to be resettled in low cost free sites, while 1 094 were to be resettled to the middle income stands. The remainder of the people would be relocated to Extension 106 near Luthuli Park as a temporary measure, Chuene said.

“They will be moved to a new area once a township is established. Temporary services such as water, sanitation and waste removal will be provided. This is the process that was agreed upon with the community. Illegal immigrants are not part of the resettlement,” she said.

Secretary of the Disteneng community committee, Johannes Kobola, said they still had trust that the resettlement process would be conducted well.