Mayor instills hope in 12 Vaal Huise residents
Accompanied by a team of municipal officials and MMCs, the mayor of Ekurhuleni Clr Mzwandile Masina and acting city manager Imogen Mashazi, recently revisited the historic houses known as 12 Vaal Huise, in Reiger Park.
It is understood that these houses were built shortly after the Second World War, when the original inhabitants who first settled there were forcefully relocated to Vosloorus ,with others taken to Wattville and Actonville.
The follow-up visit to check on residents came a few months after the municipality completed its R120 000 project to electrify these very old houses, in September this year.
When the metro first visited the area in July this year, residents of the area told authorities that the municipality had been neglecting its duty to render services in this small section of Reiger Park for years.
The residents claimed that they had been living there for more than half a century without electricity, adding that the then apartheid government neglected them and the current democratic government was doing likewise.
The plight of the residents prompted the municipality to do something for the community, and a project to electrify the houses was initiated in July and completed in September.
One resident, Luci Ruiters (60) said she had been staying in the area for almost half a century without power.
“Living without electricity was very tough for all of us here.
“Firstly, we couldn’t buy appliances such as a fridge to preserve food for a long time so we had to buy food every day. We had to buy the food we were going to eat that same day, and that was expensive.
“Then it was the light. At first we used candles, but they’re too expensive so we had to then use paraffin lamps and stoves, generating our own electricity with a solar panel and petrol generators, but that was too expensive, too.
“Briefly, it was just difficult to get along with such ‘inconveniences’, so we want to thank you the mayor for coming to our rescue,” said Ruiters. She said speaking to the mayor was “awesome” and she described Mzwandile as a “down-to-earth good guy”.
It also emerged that the piece of land occupied by these residents belongs to the nearby Drommedaris Primary School, and the occupiers were apparently supposed to be relocated to a nearby piece of land by the late ’60s.
However, the relocation never happened.
Now, the residents are saying although it’s a small area with very old houses and others have developed wall cracks they don’t want to be relocated, because the area has great sentimental value for them.
Idamonica Rayners (60) is among the residents who are strongly against relocation of their homes.
She asked the municipality do its best to ensure that their area is developed, and all residents receive title deeds for the property.
During the visit, the mayor promised that the municipality will act as an intermediary among the school, residents and the Department of Human Settlement in order to try and bring about an agreement about the land.
He also urged residents to use water and electricity sparingly, refrain from illegal connections and advised registered indigent households in the area to take full advantage of the free electricity units which they receive every time they buy electricity for their meter boxes. -@FanieFLK
