The City of Tshwane has promised that it will deliver services to the residents of Plot 61, which is also known as Smith Informal Settlement. (PARAGRAPH) Plot 61 is a portion of land that is part of the Nellmapius Willows Mega Human Settlement Project.
“The planning of the project is underway and will be implemented jointly by the City of Tshwane and the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements,” read a statement from the City of Tshwane.
The statement further explains that the delays in implementing the project were caused by prolonged conclusion of agreements between various spheres of government and the developers.
According to the City of Tshwane, a budget is now in place for service delivery in Plot 61/ Smith Informal Settlement.
“It is anticipated that the implementation of the project will commence in the next financial year,” said the City of Tshwane.
The residents of Plot 61/Smith Informal Settlement have recently told Tshwane Talks that they feel neglected by both the national government and the City of Tshwane as there is no development whatsoever in their area.
They complained that they don’t have water, electricity, schools, shopping facilities, sporting facilities, roads and RDP houses.
The residents said they have been waiting patiently for over 20 years now for development in their area and that during this time they have never embarked on any illegal actions like service delivery strikes and unlawful water and electricity connections to their households.
Plot 61 was previously owned by a farmer known as Smith who used to provide jobs, food, water and electricity to the inhabitants of the area as they were his tenants.
“But farmer Smith left the plot some 20 years ago and asked us to relocate with him to Cullinan, but we could not do so as Plot 61 is where we were born and bred and the graves of our ancestors are right here at this plot,” they said.
“During farmer Smith’s time there was water and electricity for us here at Plot 61, but the owners of the industrial site who bought the land from Smith have since cut off our water and electricity supply and actually wanted to evict us from the plot as they say it now belongs to them,” complained the residents