BURNING tyres and heavily armed policemen set the scene on Coedmore Road as people from an informal settlement on Unit Avenue closed the road for a few hours to protest for basic rights of sanitation and housing from 6am this morning (Wednesday, 13 April).
The informal settlement is found hidden deep in an abandoned Hindu cemetery, formerly known as the Seaview Hindu graveyard. Every path has been barricaded by the shack dwellers, a clear sign to any outsider that they are not welcome. But once inside, one can sense the feeling of community. The shacks housing hundreds of families are built on top of graves which were left for ruin 20 years ago. Those who live among the dead believe that the spirits still roam the earth while they sleep and haunt their dreams. But this is least of their problems.
For years the families have been living in squalor, with basic needs such as toilets and clean water non-existent. Their cries for better living conditions have fallen on deaf ears, according to protestors as they resort to barbaric measures to relieve themselves. Shack dweller, Johannes Qugane (49) who has been living there for 12 years, said he has seen no changes. “It makes me feel disgusted and ashamed that I have to use the bushes as a toilet – it is degrading. We are not asking for much but for our government to notice us, notice our needs and help us,” said Qugane. The fact that his home is built on top of a grave-site gives him an uneasy feeling that he is not alone. “I remember the first time I slept here – I swear you could see the dead walk around at night, you could hear them and feel it in your bones.”
Councillor Billie Prinsloo, who has been aware of the settlement for many years, said she made an application five years ago for the installation of toilets but was told the sewer line was too high so it became an engineering problem. “Kennedy Road informal settlement in Overport had unused porta-toilets. I asked council to rather give these to the Coedmore settlements. With regards to housing, a lot of these people were given RDP houses in Welbedacht but some have left and sold their houses or rented them out and returned to the graveyard,” she added. Housing was promised over seven years ago and at the moment, the shacks are numbered. Security guards have been placed by the council to keep record of the number of houses and to ensure that new ones are not built. “But now it seems the security guards have been moved out of the settlement and will only be allowed back once matters are resolved. Five representatives were taken to city hall on Wednesday by a council official to discuss their grievances and a possible way forward,” said Cllr Prinsloo.
