CoJ to relocate 1,500 households in Sjwetla Informal Settlement

Executive mayor for the City of Johannesburg Geoffrey Makhubo and MMC for housing Mlungisi Mabaso officially turned the soil to commence with the construction of the temporal relocation area in Ward 108 on 3 July.

Speaking during the launch held in Marlboro where 1,500 temporal relocation units will be built, Makhubo said the City was responding to the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the National department of human settlement to have people in highly congested areas relocated in order to flatten the curve of Covid-19.

“I know that many of our people in this area (Marlboro and Alexandra) live in factories and in places that are not proper for residence. I am happy that today we are launching this project. The construction of this project will be finished in three months and the process of allocating qualifying households will commence in the fourth month. This is just a beginning, we have other projects in the pipeline that the City council has approved that we will soon launch in different parts of the city where people are highly congested,” Makhubo said.

Mabaso added that the housing department was aware that the project would require a high level of prudence considering the high number of people in need of proper places to stay in and around Alexandra.

“We know that 1,500 households in the area like Alexandra are like a drop in an ocean considering a number of people who have no proper place to stay. We will work with residents and local leadership to ensure a smooth process of relocating qualifying households,” said Mabaso.

Mabaso added that they have also engaged with private developers to lend a helping hand in speeding up the process of relocating people in different areas of Region E.

“We’ve had a number of meetings with private developers asking them to lend a helping hand in speeding up the process of relocating residents in areas that are highly congested. The first group will be 1,500 households from Sjwetla Informal Settlements that we’ve identified as one of the places that need urgent intervention,” said Mabaso.

This article first appeared on Sandton Chronicle and has been republished with permission.