Eldorado Park residents demand housing and services
Residents say city planning meetings ignore urgent housing needs raised during a November 9 CBP meeting.
The community of Eldorado Park echoed their housing needs during a Community-Based Planning (CBP) meeting convened by the City of Johannesburg’s office of the speaker at Don Mateman Hall in Ext 5, Eldorado Park, on October 11.
The council speaker was represented by her adviser, Peter Rafferty, while two officials facilitated the process in the presence of Ward 18 Clr Juwairaya Kaldine.
The meeting aimed to review the consolidated CBP priorities for 2022/2023 and 2024/2025 and refine them for 2025/2026. However, residents also used the platform to raise concerns about ongoing service delivery challenges.
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Residents were divided according to their wards, allowing Ward 17 and Ward 18 participants to discuss what they considered priority needs for their respective areas. Both wards agreed that housing remains the most pressing issue in Eldorado Park.
During the meeting, community leader and member of the Gauteng Housing Crisis Committee (GHCC), Keith Duarte, said that since 1994, Eldorado Park has not benefited from any government housing programmes.
Shaquill Kasan described the meeting as a “tick-box exercise” by the City of Johannesburg, suggesting that it was merely a formality to demonstrate public participation without genuine engagement.
“As an activist working in the housing portfolio in my community, I see this purely as a tick-box exercise by the city,” Kasan said.
“It is something they do so they can say in their reports that public participation has been held and processes have been followed. But the issues we raise, like rapid land release, are still not on the programme.”
He also criticised the inclusion of projects that residents never requested.
“They are talking about putting up a park; we never said we wanted a park. We said we want housing,” Kasan added.
Ward 18 community leader Pastor Gaynoliwa Mattera shared similar frustrations, citing a lack of housing, street lighting, and healthcare as major concerns.
She said residents of Ext 2 continue to suffer because of the poor state of local healthcare facilities and inadequate basic services.
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“The clinic in Ext 2 has no proper services. When it rains, there is no roof, and people queue from six in the morning; even the elderly people stand with umbrellas,” she said.
“Now it does not operate on Saturdays and EMS vehicles refuse to come into the area because of crime.
“How are people supposed to survive when there’s no medical help, no lights and no safety? The chances of dying without assistance in Eldorado Park are 100%.”
Kasan said the GHCC will continue to engage with officials through meetings, emails, and protests until the community receives the services it deserves.
