Households on Cape Town sewage pond demand to be relocated

Nearly 100 households on the border of this sewage pond want the City of Cape Town to relocate them to safety. Archive photo: Sandiso Phaliso

For the fifth day in less than a month, residents of Siyangena informal settlement in Philippi East, Cape Town, blocked the New Eisleben and Govan Mbeki intersection with burning tyres and rubbish on Wednesday.

They are protesting over a lack of electrification and a pool of sewage overflowing into 94 homes. As the settlement has no sewers, people also dump waste in the pond, making the situation worse. Some of the people whose homes border the pond have abandoned them.

“The pond where we currently stay is filthy and unhealthy,” said Zimasa Nkomani, a mother of a two-week-old baby. She said the stench from the pond is unbearable. She said they want the City of Cape Town to relocate them to vacant land nearby.

Siyangena, which has hundreds of households, spans private land owned by business hub Philippi Village and the Oasis Crescent Property Company.

On electrification the City has said the settlement is on private land and falls within an Eskom supply area.

Community leader Melumzi Apleni said, “For years we have lived in such conditions, and the City and Philippi Village do not seem to see the urgency of the matter.”

The community approached the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) last year.

City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said engagements are “ongoing with the community through the route they chose of the SAHRC”.

“The City is looking for suitable alternative land to relocate the affected households, including possibly purchasing the same land that Siyangena is occupying.”

Philippi Village CEO Simphiwe Nikani said in a statement that the company is “deeply concerned about the protest action linked to the Siyangena community’s urgent need for electricity and temporary relocation accommodation from the City of Cape Town”.

He acknowledged the community “has an ongoing issue of a damaged storm water retention pond that releases storm water”.

He blamed “continued uncertainty and inadequate communication from the City” for the protests.

Nikani said that although Philippi Village recognised “the community’s legitimate need for safe accommodation and essential services”, it had never consented to its “property being used for housing”.

Oasis did not respond to GroundUp.

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