A resident of Jerusalema in Lerato Park refuses to move and make way for the installation of sewage pipes as she says the new plot she was allocated on the other side of the settlement is not big enough for her shack.
A RESIDENT of Jerusalema in Lerato Park refuses to move and make way for the installation of sewage pipes as she says the new plot she was allocated on the other side of the settlement is not big enough for her shack.
The installation of the pipes has come to a standstill in Jerusalema as the workers have to dig on the plot that is currently occupied by Mayo Moses, who is refusing to move.
The local road paving project has also come to a standstill.
Moses was expected to relocate to a new settlement on the other side of Jerusalema, known as Phase 5 housing project.
She broke down a piece of her shack and decided to give it to her son to build on the new plot that she was recently allocated and has demanded that she be allocated another bigger plot that can accommodate her shack.
She said that she realised upon arrival at the new plot that it was too small to fit her shack and decided to give it to her son to stay on.
Now her shack is standing next to a deep hole, exactly where she removed a part of her shack.
Moses claims that she has been victimised in terms of getting proper services, as compared to the rest of the shack dwellers, due to her being a public servant and “raising questions”.
She alleged that an official from the Housing Support Centre demanded that she pay in order to be allocated a better plot on the other side of the settlement.
She said that when she refused to pay up, the official told her that she would never be allocated another plot.
Moses said there are a lot of “discrepancies” in the allocation of the plots, which she says she has raised with the municipality.
She said plots were sold to public servants, while some of the shacks come from Lethabo Park, and the real beneficiaries are being sidelined.
She admitted that she is aware of the fact that she does not qualify for an RDP house, but is willing to build her own house on a plot that she is allocated.
According to Moses, she has been staying on the plot since 2017, illegally, after she moved from the old Bobo se Plaas.
She said she was among the first few residents to move to Jerusalema, in an act to push the local government to speed up the process of providing services.
“At first mine and about eight other shacks were not electrified and labelled as being illegal. That is before the area was surveyed. This does not make sense because all the first shacks here were illegal until surveying, but the rest of the shacks were electrified,” said Moses.
“I am not the only public servant here in Lerato Park, but that is being used against me.
“The municipality really needs to provide clarity on who and what exactly these new plots are for.”
Sol Plaatje Municipality rubbished Moses’ allegations of victimisation in terms of not receiving electricity and of being charged a fee in order to be allocated an “appropriate” plot.
Municipal spokesperson Thoko Riet said the plot sizes are more or less the same and are allocated “fairly”.
Riet said the installation of electricity is only done on the residential sites of beneficiaries who have been surveyed and not on the plots of people who have “deliberately invaded land”.
“We would like to inform that the allegations are untrue. The process of being allocated a site to her was in terms of an agreement between Moses, the ward councillor and the housing official.
“She has invaded an institutional site and currently the contractor wishes to install services and construct a road, but she refused to demolish her shack and be relocated to a serviced site.
“Moses alleges that the site was allocated to her son, whom, according to our records, has never applied and the allocation by the housing official was for her and not transferable in terms of our policy.
“Furthermore, we wish to indicate that most of the beneficiaries have occupied their sites except for those few that create challenges unnecessarily, such as Moses,” Riet concluded.
