The Record recently reported on a virtual meeting that was held to discuss the formalising of the Rugby Club informal settlement as part of the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP).
The meeting was hosted by Ward 70 councillor, Caleb Finn and Assistant Director of Projects at the CoJ Housing Department, Thembakazi Gwarubana. They were joined by a number of CoJ Housing representatives as well as more than 60 members of the community.
During Thembakazi’s presentation, she discussed the project and how they aim to achieve their objective. However, a number of concerns were soon raised by residents who felt they were left out in the decision-making process.
According to local resident, Seambali Mogoane – who represents a large number of unhappy residents surrounding the informal settlement – dates were cited in the presentation, stating that community meetings were held prior to the implementation of the programme. However, most residents who were present during the meeting couldn’t recall ever being notified of said meetings.
Upon referring this concern to Councillor Caleb, he confirmed that he circulated a WhatsApp message on various community groups on March 12, giving some basic information as to what the UISP programme, which has been in the pipeline for about three years, entailed and also about the plans for the informal settlement.
Further to this, he invited representatives of various local community groups and forums to a Stakeholder Engagement on April 19, which only one attended.
“Following this meeting, a WhatsApp message was circulated again on April 20 by myself to numerous community groups explaining the overall plan, this included sharing the presentation that was done at the meeting, and also the layout map,” Caleb said.
“I do believe efforts were made to provide the relevant information to residents, it is however unfortunate that the time frames surrounding budget implementation meant that we had less time to engage before work began on the ground. I wish to apologise to those residents who feel that not enough was done to listen to their concerns, and factor these into the design of the upgraded settlement.”
Ultimately the City and its officials are responsible for the implementation of all projects, as Councillor Caleb can only assist with the engagement between the City and its residents. However, he has taken cognizance of the many concerns that were raised and will continue to raise them with the City to work towards resolving them.
Residents also asked Caleb why the CoJ database wasn’t used to contact the residents affected by the programme.
“In terms of the database used, one of the greatest challenges that all councillors in the city face is that we don’t have access to a complete database of residents within our wards. I honestly do not believe that the City has an up-to-date list themselves. Over and above this, the POPI Act prevents us from retrieving this information,” Caleb said.
“A point was raised with me that the City has residents’ contact details to send them bills and therefore I should be able to use this database when contacting residents. I have written to a senior manager within the Revenue Department to ask whether I could possibly have access to this database, and I await their response.”
He went on to say that councillors rely on various avenues to communicate with residents, which include WhatsApp community groups, the community newspaper, community radio stations and by physically placing notices at busy places within the ward.
“In my opinion, the appropriate communication avenues were utilised by myself when communicating with the residents surrounding this matter. All other ward-related communications are done via these methods and I have not received complaints before,” he said.
The community also raised concerns around the decreasing value of properties, unfairly increased rates and taxes, and what the City was going to do about the issue, among other things.
“One of the main issues highlighted by residents is the request for a wall or fence around the informal settlement. I will be writing a motivation and starting a petition to request a fence. This is both to secure residents of the informal settlement as well as residents within Florida Lake and other surrounding communities. It is imperative that buy-in is obtained from all stakeholders in this regard, and that the needs of all residents are considered,” Caleb concluded.
