Residents demand answers on Hangberg housing

Hangberg residents are growing frustrated with the City of Cape Town and want a fixed date as to when they can expect phase 2 of Hangberg housing project to be built.

In terms of the Hangberg Peace Accord, made an order of the court on 19 October 2011, housing would be developed in the Hangberg area in Hout Bay.

The City of Cape Town completed phase 1 in 2016 while phase 2 of the project has been in the planning for more than a decade and has yet to break ground amid the recent suspension of some City officials for allegedly colluding with the “construction mafia”, as reported on an online media site.

When the Sentinel asked the City who the officials are who are under investigation and what the charges are, the City said: “The City is not at liberty to disclose any charges as the matters are either under further judicial review or did not progress to disciplinary processes as yet.

“The suspension will not have an impact on the delivery on Hangberg Phase 2 and the City will liaise with the Project Steering Community (PSC). For a very brief time as the suspended person was the liaison with the PSC, it would have had a brief impact on the feedback to the PSC. But the project is on track and the City will make the liaising and project as seamless as possible,“ the City said in reply.

The City says they are serious about following due process, accountability, transparency and consequence management, and ensuring that officials are charged if they are found guilty of misconduct in terms of the labour legislation.

Previously, Hangberg community activist and PSC member, Roscoe Jacobs, warned that the City’s “procrastination” with the development of the housing project could ‘perpetuate land invasion” (’Housing delay questioned by locals’, Sentinel, October 30 2020).

“Housing delayed is housing denied. The continued delay in the project might result in occupation of the allocated land which we as activists don’t want to see. We therefore demand the City of Cape Town fulfil its duty and protect our community’s constitutional right to housing,” read a statement issued by the PSC that year.

“Five years later, we’re still sitting with nothing, there’s no concrete plan with what’s the next step,” Mr Jacobs told the Sentinel this week.

“The City keeps telling us we are moving but we don’t see where we are moving towards. The community is frustrated in terms of what needs to happen. The City is not providing clear information.

“As the PSC we are requesting an implementing agency so we can have all the issues pertaining to the project addressed concurrently, so if there’s an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or any other components that needs to be followed for the housing project, the process can be streamlined and happening at a faster pace,“ Mr Jacobs said.

The PSC signed off on the housing allocation request form (ARF), requesting that the housing process start and that 100 percent of the potential beneficiaries be from the Hangberg area.

This was followed by the City displaying a housing database containing the names of all the Hangberg applicants for the proposed phase 2 housing project whereafter people could study the list and contest any issues during the time period from May 5 2022 to June 6 2022.

However, the project stalled and Mr Jacobs said they still don’t know when they will be breaking ground. “We still don’t know what type of housing will be built. We were never given a set date and we’ve always been pushing for time-lines which says when the City will be breaking ground and those time-lines were never forthcoming from the City.

“We were initially told by the City that we needed the first sign-off on a waiting list of potential beneficiaries for things to happen. We pushed for it, we signed off on it (the ARF) and wanted to make sure that 100% of the beneficiaries had to be from Hangberg. People are waiting for years and sometimes they pass on before they receive their houses, “ said Mr Jacobs.

The Sentinel asked the City if a community meeting with the PSC will take place in the following two months, to which the City said: “The City will communicate with the PSC in due course and will make liaising with the PSC as seamless as possible.”

The Sentinel spoke to Hangberg housing beneficiaries, Miriam Olivier and Beatrice Yon, who collectively have been waiting for housing for almost four decades.

“I have been on the waiting list for six years. I was 19 at the time with a 2-month-old baby and was a single mom. I didn't know what was in store for me at the time, so I registered as a safety net.

“At the time I was living with my mom and brother. Things were rocky for me because I was a new mom and dealing with an abusive brother; he is schizophrenic (diagnosed recently), so my living situation was very toxic for me and my baby as there was constant fighting in the house and my daughter had to witness a lot of violence,“ said Ms Olivier.

She says her father has been on the waiting list for 31 years.

“Why is it so easy for housing to happen on the Cape Flats, the northern suburbs and the West Coast. Why is it such a huge problem for the government to provide proper housing for Hangberg. We as the community of Hangberg has had so many meetings with the City already, all they do is make promises,” Ms Olivier said.

Ms Yon says she has been on the waiting list for over 30 years.

“The City was supposed to be busy with the next phase a long time ago already. In the meantime families grow, kids become adults. I am staying with my eldest daughter now as I don't have a place of my own. I wish I could really get my own place to stay.

“The City should do a housing survey through the whole of Hangberg to make sure of the actual amount of families that is residing in the Hangberg area and that they are given first privilege for housing,“ Ms Yon said.

When the Sentinel approached ward councillor Roberto Quintas for comment on this matter, we were redirected to Carl Pophaim, the Mayco member for human settlements. However, after several enquiries, the Sentinel did not receive a response in time for our print publication.

The City could also not provide a photo of the piece of land or the erf number planned for phase 2 of the housing project when the Sentinel enquired.