City of Cape Town must urgently deliver on 12-year-old housing promise to Masonwabe Hostel families
Statement by Bongani Maqungwana, Councillor in the City of Cape Town
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) in the City of Cape Town is deeply disappointed by the City’s failure to honour its promise to the families living at the Masonwabe Temporary Relocation Area in Gugulethu.
It has been 12 long years since these families were moved from the old Masonwabe Hostel in 2013. At the time, they were told the relocation was only temporary while the City fixed the unsafe and crumbling hostel. But the hostel was demolished, the land stands empty while the City says there are no immediate plans to move these families into proper permanent housing.
This is nothing short of abandonment, how can a temporary solution last for 12 years with no end in sight? These families are living in cold, unsafe structures, children are growing up in tin shacks surrounded by crime, mice and followed by neglect.
Masonwabe now has over 130 structures, far more than the original 80 families who were moved in. Families have grown but their homes have not. Many are forced to extend their small units with scrap materials just to survive.
It is unacceptable that the City of Cape Town has even failed to communicate clearly with the affected families, and no proper maintenance is being done on those dilapidated temporary structures despite people still living in them.
The City refers to these homes as part of “incremental development,” yet offers no real plan or timeline for permanent housing.
These families were promised back in 2013 that they would return to a redeveloped Masonwabe site. Today, that promise has been forgotten as the land lies empty while hundreds of people suffer in substandard conditions nearby.
The UDM in the City of Cape Town, demands the City:
• Immediately engages with the Masonwabe community to provide a clear update.
• Commits to a fixed timeline for the development of permanent housing on the original site
• Ensures the safety and maintenance of the current structures while people are still living there.
Stop treating vulnerable communities like they don’t matter. Gugulethu people deserves dignity not, delays nor empty promises, promises must be delivered.
