Pretoria - Delays in transferring the land on which the Phumekhaya informal settlement in Ekangala was established to the City of Tshwane has been blamed for lack of services such as electricity and water.
Resident Petrus Malobola complained to the Gauteng legislature’s petitions committee that delays in transferring land ownership to the City was a stumbling block to formalising the area.
Malobola said the informal settlement accommodated approximately 1 000 people, who were struggling to access basic services such as water and electricity.
“In the interim, the community is using water tanks as a means of accessing water while the municipality begins the process of formalising the informal settlement,” he said.
The issue came up during the recent hearing of petitions presented by community representatives at the legislature.
The City's Human Settlements representative, Skopa Apies, confirmed that the land was still owned by the Department of Land and Rural Development, and was in the process of being handed over to the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements.
Apies said that due to the rapid land invasion throughout the City it was difficult to provide rudimentary services or to even formalise at least 210 informal settlements expeditiously.
However, he said the City was providing 29 chemical toilets to residents and mobile water tankers carrying 10 000 litres of water were supplying water to them.
“The City has decided to engage with the national Department of Human Settlements through a national support upgrading programme, which is completed and confirmed that the land is owned by the Department of Land and Rural Development,” Apies said.
He said the City was also engaging with the provincial government to facilitate the transfer of the land so that it could proceed with township-establishment in the area.
“The land belongs to the province.
It transpired during a meeting that in 2019 the provincial government promised the community that the land transfer would happen as soon as possible. However, to date that process is still pending.
Pretoria News