By Kouthar Sambo

The City of Cape Town is under increasing pressure to address its housing crisis as the Dunoon area is marked by informal settlements, particularly Dunoon and the Greater Kosovo.

This comes after residents started erecting double-story informal structures, while others excavated their shelters into the Potsdam Bridge’s embankment.

“The City has had regular engagements with affected residents in the Potsdam road vicinity. The City will assist the residents with their relocation once suitable land is identified,” said the DA’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements Councillor Carl Pophaim.

Pophaim further described the demand for affordable housing in Cape Town as “acute.” 

According to Pophaim, the City’s Human Settlements Directorate has spent 99,3% of its more than R880 million capital budget on Human Settlements projects in the 2022/23 financial year.

“This is money being spent on directly improving the living conditions of vulnerable households and providing and enabling decent accommodation across the city,” clarified Pophaim.

Pophaim further added that the directorate spent nearly 100% of its informal settlements and urban settlements grant funding.

Furthermore, approximately R2,5 billion capital budget has been allocated for human settlement projects over the next three years.

All housing projects have different dynamics, explained Pophaim, depending on the size of the project, the number of applicants who may qualify, and the application date range for that project. 

“Applicants are selected for housing opportunities based on the date that they registered on the Register (and need to qualify by being a South African citizen and not owning property previously, among other criteria),” said Pophaim.

“The City’s new Human Settlements Strategy aims to enable up to 30,000 more opportunities per year, mainly to be delivered by the private sector. In total, for informal basic services some R3,2 billion has been budgeted for enhancing services over the next three years,” proclaimed Pophaim.  

Speaking to VOC News, the Chairperson of Group 4 Developers (G4D) said the housing issue is a serious crisis in the government system. Koeberg further deemed the system as inefficient.

“This is something that does not benefit any person who is from the Western Cape because our people are up to 43 years on the waiting list. I think our government in the Western Cape are targeting certain racial areas where they do not want to work with you and they only work with certain races they vote for them,” expressed Koeberg. 

“This is a big problem because it shows their interest is only to further their political motives,” reiterated Koeberg. 

Meanwhile, National Community Police Forum (CPF) Fransina Lukas said that the lack of housing is a “recipe for disaster.”

“Thousands of people are placed in one area without proper housing, proper sanitation, which is a breeding ground for crime, especially Gender Based Violence (GBV) and other related crime,” explained Lukas. 

Lukas further added that the City must step up in providing land for adequate housing. 

“This is how we can address the social problems associated with overcrowding and high density. It is highly concerning to see young children roaming the streets without having proper play parks because the streets are an unsafe place,” reiterated Lukas.

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