Tenderpreneurs ‘gain by us being here’, say informal settlement residents

A strong stench of sewage running between shacks, illegal electricity connections, the cries of babies and barefoot children pushing tyres through dusty streets – this is what greets you as you enter the Mafelandawonye informal settlement 2 in Ivory Park, Midrand.

Overcrowded settlement

Young and old are wandering the small passages of the settlement, with most idle because of the lack of jobs. The overcrowded area has over 1 000 people living in a space meant to house only 130 people.

Some say they have been there since 1992 and claim their plight was “beneficial” to those in government.

“They gain by us being here, the mobile toilets you see here are tenders,” some residents allege. “There’s someone who gets paid to come and pump the waste from the toilets. The tanks filled with water by trucks is from a tender. Someone, somewhere, is getting paid.”

Exposed live wires of illegal connections have parents constantly looking out for their children as, according to them, “many children have been electrocuted before”.

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Mafelandawonye set for upgrade

Patrick Phophi, director for human settlements in Johannesburg, says Mafelandawonye is part of 181 informal settlements set for an upgrade by the Joburg council. The city plans to provide Mafelandawonye 1 and 3 with interim services until they can relocate them permanently.

“The area they are in is not suitable for development, hence they do not have flushing toilets – but the council approved a report we prepared for settlements we want to upgrade and Mafelandanye 1, 2 and 3 are part of that,” Phophi says.

“We need to look into buying land for affected families. For some we can build where they are but some need to be relocated because of overpopulation.”

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Asked when the residents of Mafelandawonye would be moved, Phophi says it is hard to say.

“We have prioritised those with C forms from 1997 in terms of allocation. We will be meeting with the leadership, as well as the councillors tomorrow [today], so that we can devise a plan to integrate and develop these issues.”

Resident fears being removed by government

Residents say a medical doctor, police officer, some nurses and other officials from various government departments own shacks in Mafelandawonye.

“The reason they stay here is because they want land. When the government gives us land, they can easily build their houses without paying for the land. They just register and leave the shacks unoccupied – and these shacks are causing problems because they harbour criminals.”

A resident who was born there, Abednigo Dhlamini, says his greatest fear is the government will remove them. “We don’t have title deeds. If someone decides to remove us, we won’t have a home. The greatest thing will be to belong and say this is home,” he says.

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Dhlamini says the area is designed to destroy people’s lives.

“Most of the youth use drugs; some are in prison because we are from this place designed to produce criminals and prostitutes.

“People have been forced to be immune to pain,” Dhlamini says.

Another resident, Nombulelo Dlamini, says living in the area as a woman is dangerous. “I can’t even count the number of times they have broken into my place…”