This project will provide services for the residents of Khayelitsha’s Backstage informal settlement including families from high risk surrounding informal areas, securing tenure for residents who have been living there for many years and improving their lives in a tangible way. The existing households on the proposed site are living in highly densified configurations. The settlement currently has limited basic services available to informal households due to the lack of space and access as this was an unplanned settlement.
It involves the provision of 250 serviced sites for qualifying beneficiaries. The sites will have sewer and water connections on a one-on-one basis and black-top roads and stormwater services. The project will also include a public open space. This is in line with the City’s commitment of bringing greater formality to informal settlements where it is possible to do so; to mainstream basic services provision and to improve the lives of its most vulnerable residents amid rapid urbanisation.
This is an Upgrade of Informal Settlements Project which seeks to upgrade an area of relative informality by means of the installation of civil engineering services. Construction is currently under way and is expected to be completed by June 2021, if all goes according to plan.
‘This is what our work at the City is about: pushing forward despite challenges for the benefit of those who are most in need. It is so important that all stakeholders continue to support this project and that the best interests of the qualifying beneficiaries are prioritised.
‘We are not going to address the extreme accommodation need in Cape Town, and in the rest of South Africa for that matter, by focusing only on one type of housing delivery. We are going to have to be innovative, steadfast and continue to drive the upgrade of informal settlements where it is possible to do so. It is a mind shift that must happen across our communities, one involving the move away from the heavy expectation of formal State-supplied subsidy housing only.
‘Urbanisation is not a municipal challenge alone. All tiers of government, the private sector and civic organisations must work together and ensure that we are ahead of the curve with our plans to address rapid urbanisation. We must bring our communities on board with the alternatives that are on offer. These upgrade projects are steeped in the idea of partnerships and innovation.
‘This is also why we take a zero tolerance approach to the ongoing scourge of violent and coordinated land invasions which we can see currently taking place across the metro. Any invasion of existing projects jeopardises our planned interventions. We will continue to protect our projects as much as possible and to prevent further unplanned settlements from being created, more often than not in flood-prone areas unsuitable for housing. Thank you to the community and to our dedicated Informal Settlements Department staff for all that they do on a daily basis to assist our most vulnerable residents,’ said Councillor Booi.
Anonymous tip-offs welcomed:
Residents can give anonymous tip offs if they are aware of illegal activity that is taking place; that has happened or is still to happen. Please call 112 from a cell phone (toll free) and 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 for emergencies.