Share this article

2010-03-03: Peace settling in Thembelihle  
 
Early Monday and Tuesday morning, sporadic acts of violence occurred in Thembelihle Informal Settlement. Protestors barricaded the road next to Lenasia. This was allegedly in protest against the electricity cut-offs in the area.

The City of Johannesburg’s Council took a decision in 2002 to relocate the people of Thembelihle from a dolomitic area to a place of safety in Vlakfontein. This decision was taken after a geological study carried out by the former Southern Metropolitan Substructure which revealed that Thembelihle is dolomitic and therefore unsafe for human habitation. This means it would be uneconomic to install underground services and the cost of housing development would also be prohibitive for the target market envisaged.

Following the publication of the report the City began communicating with the affected families, informing them about such dangers and urging them to relocate. In turn, the community engaged the services of academics to advise them on the dolomite situation. To date, no further representation has been presented to refute the city’s 2002 findings. As a result, the city’s decision not to develop the area still stands.

The City then undertook a process to carry out a voluntary relocation of residents from Thembelihle to Vlakfontein.  About 647 families were resettled in Vlakfontein.

As a result of the area being dolomitic, the City will not build houses in Thembelihle. However, the City has plans to relocate people from Thembelihle to the adjacent housing development estates such as Lehae and Vlakfontein and other housing development projects.

To date, bulk infrastructure (Water and Sewer) has been installed at about 1000 stands in Lehae primarily to accommodate some of the Thembalihle community. This month a process of building “Top Structure” will commence.
It is estimated that the 1000 beneficiaries from Thembalihle will be allocated houses in Lehae by September 2010. The City is currently conducting a feasibility study on two portions of land – one on the north of Lehae and a farm called Misgund next to Lehae.

It is estimated that both these sites (combined) would yield approximately 8 000 stands.

The City's development approach for the area will take into account the national Department of Housing's Breaking New Ground (BNG) initiative to promote mixed and integrated sustainable housing developments. The BNG initiative encourages a principle of developing all-inclusive, mixed-income and mixed-density suburbs, instead of monolithic subsidy townships.

In the interim, the City of Johannesburg will continue to provide temporary basic services such as water, sanitation, waste collection and electricity Thembelihle. These services would be better enhanced at Lehae. The education drive on dangers of illegal connections among the communities will also be stepped up.

Today the city explained to the community about a fatality emanating from an illegal connection. This incident compelled the city (in terms of the Electricity Supply Regulation and the Occupation Health and Safety Act) to shut down the electricity last Saturday. The city then removed all illegal connections to pave way for the network to be safe and create the required environment for restoring public lights in the area. The move also guaranteed the community to receive electricity in safe conditions.  A few hostile members of the community attempted to frustrate the authority’s actions and police had to use measurable force to ensure the successful execution of this plan. Public lightening was then restored.

The City of Johannesburg continues to look for long-term solutions to address the future of the Thembalihle informal settlement. Recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile have once again underlined the power of the forces of nature. Although the situation at Thembelihle can not be equated with major seismic activity, there is sufficient concern about the stability area. It also underlines the fact that natural activity and disaster, whatever the source, could unleash an immense hardship on a community and a responsible government would not knowingly permit unsafe land to be occupied.

In the light of this, the City calls on the residents and community leaders to contribute towards finding lasting solutions for the area’s future and refrain from violent protest action. A special appeal is made to the community to act in a responsible manner and not interfere with deadly electricity supply infrastructure in the area. Live ELECTRICITY supply can KILL when handled by unauthorised people.

Power services to parts of the adjacent suburb of Lenasia which were disrupted by vandalism, have since been restored. The City is apologising to residents who were inconvenienced both in Thembelihle, Lenasia and passers-by who could not have free passage during their travel within these areas. Reasonable steps taken so far would be sufficient to close the bad chapter and take all parties concerned to a better cooperative dispensation in order to improve the quality of life in this community.

Issued by the Public Liaison Department, City of Johannesburg.

For further enquiries contact:

Nthatisi Modingoane, Tel: 011 407 7162 or 082 467 9228


Nthatisi Modingoane
Deputy Director: Communications
CITY OF JOHANNESBURG
Tel: (011) 407 7354
Fax: 403 3494
Cell: 082 467 9228
E-mail: nthatisem@joburg.org.za