Squatter camp conditions inhumane for residents
Squatter camp residents dissatisfied with living conditions.
Residents at Lily’s squatter camp in Meadowlands Zone Three had no interest in celebrating Human Rights Day because of their living conditions.
On March 21, the country celebrated a day of the Sharpeville-during the apartheid era where 69 lives were lost during a protest action against pass laws.
Some of the residents were mindful of what had happened in history but they are not pleased with the conditions the lack of service delivery from the government.
Lily’s used to be a bioscope centre, one of the renowned entertainment places in Soweto.
When it closed down, people turned it into a squattercamp years ago.
The common dissatisfaction is that of housing backlog, residents complain that they registered for RDP houses in 1996/1997 but still they have not received keys to a decent home than the shacks they are living in.
There is not proper sanitation, no electricity and resident said they do not feel safe there.
They feel that they are being denied the basic rights afforded to them in the constitution:
The South African Constitution-Chapter 2: Bill of Rights
Section 24: the right to a healthy environment and the right to have the environment protected.
Section 25: the right to property, limited in that property may only be expropriated under a law of general application (not arbitrarily), for a public purpose and with the payment of compensation.
Section 26: the right to housing, including the right to due process with regard to court-ordered eviction and demolition.
Section 27: the rights to food, water, health care and social assistance, which the state must progressively realise within the limits of its resources.
