Mams flood victims finally set to move to new home in November

The long wait for flood victims and other squatter camps in Mamelodi to relocate to a safe and permanent site will soon end.

MMC for Human Settlement, Ofentse Madzebatela made this assurance when he officially handed over the Pienaarspoort development site for Mamelodi flood victims to a contractor last Tuesday.

“We aim to complete it before the rainy season begins to avoid another flood situation,” Madzebatela said.

He said with the groundwork officially starting, they envisage that relocations will begin in November of this year.

“The site is currently being cleared, and once all rehabilitation work is completed, it will yield more than 5,000 serviced stands to the Mamelodi flood victims and other informal settlements, including Eerste Fabrieke, Soul City, Phomolong, and others,” he said.

The flood victims were excited about the announcement of the development site after waiting since 2019.

The displaced Mamelodi flood victims said at first, they had been living ‘temporarily’ at the Nellmapius library while waiting to be moved to a safer place, which never happened and they ended up staying there for two years.

They claimed they were forced to do almost everything there, including bathing, cooking, and laundry, in an environment with no privacy.

Dumisane Khumalo, one of the beneficiaries, said they are finally moving to permanent stands, a place called home.

He said they had been waiting for relocation since 2019.

“The floods destroyed many shacks and even took lives. Moving to a safer place will satisfy everyone.

“The residents of Nellmapius will be able to use the community hall, and the flood victims will finally have a place called home,” said Khumalo.

However, some residents of Ward 100 in Pienaarspoort said they were not satisfied with how Tshwane metro and the project manager were running the project.

Phumulani Magombeni said they welcomed the move by Tshwane metro to get land around Mamelodi, but said the project did not involve the residents in terms of employment and local businesses.

“The community members in Ward 100 were not consulted about the project and only employed a few people for the project.”

Magombeni said the project was supposed to create job opportunities for the locals in Pienaarspoort.

Madzebatela said Tshwane Human Settlements handed over the Pienaarspoort development site to a contractor where rehabilitation work is set to begin in preparation for the relocation of the flood victims.

He said once the land was acquired by the provincial government, they discovered that the land in question had been used for extensive illegal sand mining activities and was thus unsuitable for habitation.

Madzebatela said to correct this, the Tshwane metro appointed a service provider to clear the site and rehabilitate it to make it suitable for the affected families to receive serviced stands.

He said the Pienaarspoort relocation is an important milestone for the department.

“Once relocated, these households will receive rudimentary water and sewer services while we plan for bulk services to the area.

“Tshwane metro is thrilled to finally be at this stage where we can get this project underway,” he concluded.

Samuel Simbini (66) was among the 60 displaced families placed at the Nellmapius Library.

He said he was excited about the move to a safe place where they could peacefully sleep at night and not worry about food.

Simbini recalled the government giving them blankets and food while they waited for a couple of months.

“Days and months have passed while we waited for relocation, and the sponges we were given after we were displaced were worn out, and many people were complaining about body aches,” said Simbini.

“Some people got tired of waiting and decided to rebuild their old shacks on the flood line.”

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