Africa-Press – South-Africa. Human waste litters the ground in Mountain View informal settlement in Mamelodi, Tshwane.
The settlement, built on rocky land between two housing developments, has hardly any toilets, no electricity, and no water.
The municipality said the families living there would be housed when suitable land was found – and in the meantime it is not going to fix Mountain View.
Mountain View is situated in the middle of Mamelodi Ext 17 with RDP houses, and Mahube Valley Ext 1. Both have tarred streets, running water and electricity, and flush toilets inside the houses.
In Mountain View, families live in shacks, some built on a steep rocky slope.
Residents told GroundUp they were so desperate to leave they were even prepared to stay in another informal settlement.
Florence Shirindza said she and her four children battled to get around in the rocky area.
Where she lives, there are three flush toilets built by residents outside the shacks, connected, by residents, to the sewerage system in Ext 17.
“Other people relieve themselves wherever they can on the ground, during the night.
“There is always a bad stench of human waste outside my shack. What worries me the most is that I live in a bad place that is next to two beautiful places that have houses, water, and electricity.”
She said some people have built pit toilets in their small yards, while others often requested permission to use the toilets of Ext 17 residents.
Shirindza makes a living by looking after children of working residents of Mountain View or other parts of Mamelodi.
When GroundUp visited Mountain View recently, the stench of human waste was unbearable.
Resident Nando Nyawuse said he had to watch his two young children and make sure they did not fall on the rocks.
“The government must move us to safe land, even if it is another informal settlement.”
City of Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said Mountain View started in 2012 and was recognised as an informal settlement in 2017.
At that time, he added, the City had counted and marked shacks, and 2 662 families had been registered.
Mashigo said the City was in the process of finding suitable land as part of addressing the issue of informal settlements in Mamelodi, including Mountain View.
“Like other metropolitan cities, the City of Tshwane is experiencing a huge demand for affordable housing.”
He added the housing backlog included more than 500 000 people in 227 informal settlements, 200 000 on the national housing needs register, more than 85 000 living in backyard rooms and more than 24 000 in old hostels.
Mashigo said the land the City was in the process of finding would address backlogs in all these categories.
Meanwhile, he added, the City did not have any plans to provide water and toilets to Mountain View residents.
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