The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi and City officials visited the Imizamo Yethu informal settlement on the 18 August 2021, to continue engagements with the community affected by the fire and to check on the progress of the redevelopment programme in the area. This visit was to check on the redevelopment programme which had been planned prior to the latest fire that happened last week Sunday.
The City delegation visited the Imizamo Yethu informal settlement in Hout Bay to continue engagements with the families affected by the fire which took place on Sunday, 15 August 2021. They also checked on the progress being made on the redevelopment project in the area. The site visit had been planned prior to the latest fire. The redevelopment programme is a complex one that started after the large fire of 2017, but despite the City’s innovation, drive and super-human effort to get it completed in the shortest possible time, it has been held up by special interests and court cases, among others.
“Families have experienced a tremendous loss over the weekend and I am grateful that the City is able to assist those affected with rebuilding of their homes and to repair some of the electricity infrastructure in the area. The work to rebuild and restore electricity continues. City teams have also worked nonstop to clear the affected site. The City continues to engage with those affected and we have been working hard to assist destitute families where we can. We thank the City officials, the broader community, NGO Gift of the Givers, the Western Cape and National Governments, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and community leaders who have worked to support these residents over the last few days.
I wish to thank all members of the public and organisations who have donated food, clothing and other items to the affected.This latest fire should really also highlight the complexities of rebuilding and redeveloping areas after big fires, and the length of time it can take when special interests hold up the process. The City’s Imizamo Yethu redevelopment project has been under way for some time and once completed could help to mitigate the impact of fires to the area due to enhanced access for emergency services.
After the large fire in 2017, the City planned to introduce a so called superblock configuration with proper road access and designated areas where fire hydrants would be installed, among other services. However, progress stalled repeatedly. A new plan was devised and this is bearing fruit. We have three processes now under way in Imizamo Yethu – the rebuild after the latest fire; the broader redevelopment upgrade after the 2017 fire and the formal housing project as part of the next phase of the Imizamo Yethu housing project. Bulk earthworks for the formal housing project have been completed and the retaining walls constructed. Progress is being made, but against the context of the latest fire. City teams remain on the ground to assist. We will never give up on wanting to improve the lives of our people in informal settlements. Informality is here to stay and we must all work together to ensure that our programmes to formalise our informal areas through upgrading and incremental development are carried out for the good of our broader communities. The City will continue to work on its engagement skills to ensure we are inclusive and responsive to the needs of all who reside on our communities and to see where we can find middle ground to make progress together,” said Councillor Booi.
As has been communicated, last year, funding was cut for the City’s emergency building kits programme. The City was the only metro in South Africa to provide enhanced fire kits to fire-affected residents as an additional service, outside of formal declared disasters. This was done to speed up the rebuild efforts out of humanitarian considerations.
However,this was subject to funding and in particular grant funding from the National Government. Changes to the funding have impacted on operations. The City continues to call on the reinstatement of funds to help the City to provide the intervention it used to provide. All options are constantly being explored.
