Where to with Mmamojela Park?

Plans to relocate the residents of Mmamojela Park, an informal settlement on the outskirts of Lephalale, has emotions running high as it became known that an estimated 3 000 people will be moved to land belonging to the department of public works adjacent to the Grootfontein smallholdings.

According to a resident of Mmamojela Park, who chose to remain anonymous, they were informed by representatives of the Lephalale municipality that they will be moved to the new location before the end of the year. “We voted for this government and they promised to provide us with houses. We can’t live in this filthy place where the crime rate is high and we don’t even have water,” said the woman who escorted Northern News on a tour of the informal settlement. The area has no running water, sanitation, electricity or basic services.

Most of the people were unwilling to go on record saying they were afraid that they would be victimised. “You can see that this place is not suitable for humans to live in,” said the woman who claimed that there are between four and six people living in each shack. “Most of the people living here are unemployed and there are many illegal immigrants here. Most of these people make a living by doing odd jobs and earn R50 a day or less.”

Residents also claim that the police refuse to respond to calls in the area as there are virtually no access roads to Mmamojela Park.

Warrant officer Frans Mokoena of the Lephalale police confirmed that it is a challenge to respond to complaints in the area. “The shacks are not numbered and eventhough there is a road leading to the shacks, it is full of potholes and difficult to drive on. When it rains or at night it is even worse,” he said.

 W/O Mokoena adds that the easiest way to make sure that the police find the complainant is to ask them to wait near a distinguishing landmark like the main road.

While residents at the Grootfontein smallholdings have sympathy with the dire living conditions of the Mmamojela Park residents, some of them feel that it is unacceptable to move a large group of people onto another piece of land with no basic amenities. “If the municipality neglects the basic needs of the people while they are living in their current area, I doubt they will take better care of them when they are moved,” said one of the residents who recently moved to the Grootfontein smallholdings.

Another worrying factor is the amount of people who will have to move into an area that is only about three hectares. “There is no way an emergency vehicle will have access in case of an emergency with shacks built almost on top of one another to accommodate all the people that will have to live there.”

Some residents of the Grootfontein smallholdings decided to approach a legal advisor, but stated that they were still gathering information.

In 2013 Northern News reported that Mmamojela Park could be formalised (Mmamojela Park still without service; 8 August 2013). At the time, former municipal manager, Bob Naidoo, said they applied to the department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) for formalisation and as soon as CoGHSTA gave the go-ahead they would begin spatial planning which would mean that the people living there would receive basic municipal services. Since then the situation at Mmamojela Park has remained unchanged with refuse piling up, sewage spilling into the passageways between shacks and water tankers delivering too little water for the growing number of people.

Stephen Manamela, the DA’s caucus leader in the municipality, says they welcome the move but feel that it is crucial that residents should be provided with adequate housing and have access to basic services. “In the past the Constitutional Court found that housing entails more than just bricks and mortar. It requires available land, appropriate services such as water provision and the removal of sewage which means residents can not simply be moved before services are in place even if it is intended as a temporary move.”

Manamela also claims that there is no transfer agreement or any other contract regarding the use of the land donated by the department of public works.

While questions were sent to the Lephalale municipality, no response was received by the time of going to print. However, a reliable source indicated that a meeting about the issue was scheduled for Thursday 29 September.