Frustration is mounting in the east of Pretoria as the promised relocation of the Plastic View and Cemetery View informal settlements faces significant delays, with a City of Tshwane councillor citing the issue of undocumented foreign nationals and a lack of governmental cohesion as primary obstacles.
The relocation process, initially promised to begin in June, has stalled despite land already being identified for the move in Pretorius Park extension 40. Residents accuse the municipality of “dragging its feet,” leaving thousands in precarious living conditions with ongoing risks of fire and a lack of basic services.
In an interview, Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor and spokesperson for housing and human settlements, Shaun Wilkinson, outlined the complex challenges causing the delay. He traced the issue back years to a major fire during the tenure of former mayor Solly Msimanga, which first highlighted the dilemma of identifying who qualifies for relocation.
“The court orders said that you can’t relocate without new accommodation being created,” Wilkinson stated, emphasizing the legal constraints.
Following another devastating fire in September, which displaced 2,000 people and claimed at least one life, Mayor Cilliers Brink documented South African citizens in the settlements, earmarking them for new housing. The plan involves building approximately 300 subsidized houses and just over 500 rental units.
However, this solution is vastly insufficient for the estimated 20,000 residents of Plastic View alone, creating an immediate dilemma of prioritization. Wilkinson pointed to a previous relocation in the Wolweterus area, where most documented South Africans were moved, but a few were left behind due to bureaucratic issues.
The councillor identified the presence of undocumented foreign nationals as a “big issue” complicating the process. While a recent operation led by Home Affairs official Dr. Leon Schreiber, accompanied by hundreds of police officers, resulted in several arrests, Wilkinson warned that the momentum must be maintained.
“The City of Tshwane needs to keep that momentum going. I think there’s a little bit of disconnect. There isn’t cohesion between local government, provincial government… and national government, mainly Home Affairs,” he said.
When asked if the city was deliberately delaying, Wilkinson acknowledged systemic challenges, including a limited budget to address over 300 similar informal communities simultaneously. However, he stressed the urgent need for action to restore “human dignity” and mitigate the constant fire risk.
The situation is further complicated by families of mixed nationality. “You’ve got a crisis of a different proportion… What about the South African who has a foreign national father of her child?” Wilkinson asked, noting that court orders mandate providing housing for these families.
Wilkinson called for an end to political point-scoring and urged for a collective, apolitical strategy. “Put your egos aside. Start looking after the people… At the moment, you’ve got individuals with good ideas, but there isn’t a collective moving forward. That’s the problem.”
For now, the residents of Plastic View and Cemetery View continue to wait, their hopes for sustainable housing pinned on a resolution to the complex web of legal, bureaucratic, and humanitarian challenges.
