GROUNDUP
Families living on Cape Town railway line to be moved in two weeks
Scopa chair tells ministers and mayor to get on with it.
Families living along the railway line in Philippi in Cape Town are to be moved in the next two weeks.
At a hearing on Wednesday of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), MPs were told that about 800 shacks in Stock Road, Philippi, would be temporarily moved 10 metres from the railway line to allow trains to run on the Central line while a permanent solution was found.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) promised in July that the Central Line, which stopped running in 2019, would be fully operational before the end of March next year.
The Scopa hearing was marked by exchanges between Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, prompting committee chair Mkhuleko Hlengwa to rebuke them. “Should I separate the two of you because of your side comments?” he asked.
Kubayi blamed the city for the delay in relocating the families living in Langa, Philippi and Khayelitsha. “As a minister, for me to function I need them to cooperate,” she said.
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala also took issue with the city, accusing it of not prioritising poor communities.
“And I must emphasise at this point that it is not only the Minister of Human Settlements who has declared a dispute with the municipality. Government has taken a decision that when municipalities are not implementing their mandate and not cooperating with the national department, we will have to intervene and take over irrespective of where is that municipality.”
Hill-Lewis told GroundUp that Prasa had to take responsibility for not having protected its land. “If you don’t protect your assets, you don’t protect your land, you have to take responsibility for the consequences.”
But he said the city was fully in support of the plan, dubbed Operation Bhekela to move residents a short distance, while keeping them on the rail reserve so that the trains could run, as a temporary solution. “At least people can use trains again. So we are in full support and we are ready to service those residents as we are already doing.”
Hlengwa said the committee would meet again on 20 September and would expect updates. He said it would be a tragedy to have to “babysit such big departments and the municipality”.
“Please implement your protocol,” Hlengwa told the ministers and the mayor. DM
First published by GroundUp.
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Love it when Prasa cause the problem and then blame the municipality for not fixing it!
Yes and then the ANC also climb in and blame DA and the city for the problem and not their Prasa.
To both Williams – well said! It just defies description that these ANC wallies have the brazen cheek to criticise the DA – who are doing an incredible job down here in the Western Cape and Cape Town – but then I suppose they get away with everywhere else in SA so think they can try the same nonsense down here. And one thing they also completely ignore is that most of the people on the Khayelitsha railway lines are economic refugees escaping from their corrupt and incompetent management of the Eastern Cape.
I wonder if this self-righteous government is as effective at oversight where it is an ANC run municipality that is “not implementing their mandate and not cooperating with the national department.”. They seem to spend a lot of time and energy fighting with Cape Town, which may be fallible but still streets ahead of any ANC run mess. Maybe they should turn their attention to the worst run municipalities, and try support those that are trying to make a positive difference to the lives of their constituents?
Not wishing to sound too sarcastic, but ‘did you take your medicine today, Brian?!’
Do we seriously believe that that bunch of useless incompetent corrupt etc etc morons – and I’m afraid I have to include my biggest let down, Ramaphosa in that now – could do something like that? My wife was just listening to Cape Talk and the idiot ANC woman (I think it was) who was supposed to be talking about the ANC’s stuffup in Joburg with the burning buildings, managed to turn the discussion around to how the DA had messed up the taxi war down here! Talk about whataboutism.
we will all regret that law about having to provide alternate housing before getting an eviction order. Give me a week and I can occupy any piece of land in SA that I choose to ILLEGALLY occupy – then I am protected.
The concept of occupying a road / railway / somebody else’s property and expecting that you should not be forcibly removed without being provided with a home is completely insane.