George informal settlement housing risks collapse on unstable former mining land

“We were desperate for a place to stay because there wasn’t any land available in George,” says Vuyisa Sapepa. He is a leader of the eDamini informal settlement community in Thembalethu, George. A few thousand people live here, a major land occupation that started in 2017. Most used to live in backyard dwellings or were renting RDP houses. They came here to avoid having to pay rent they could not afford.

But the land on which this occupation has taken place was previously used for mining. Heavy rains in George over December caused a chunk of earth to collapse between some of the shacks. Residents are now worried that their entire area is unstable, at risk of collapsing.

The land was transferred to George Municipality from the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements some five years ago.

The community has 32 chemical toilets, but only 15 are open. The rest have been locked by households who are cleaning and maintaining those toilets. Residents have also installed their own taps after growing frustrated with waiting for the municipality to do it. Out of 1,070 shacks, only 40 have electricity boxes and many others are connected illegally to electrical poles.

Many of the shacks are built near a dam wall, adding to residents’ worries.

“When we arrived, the land was muddy like a pigsty but we were desperate to get houses so we decided to erect our shacks regardless,” said Sapepa.

He said the municipality came to demolish their shacks twice in 2017 but they kept rebuilding them.

Resident Khayekethu Mboxo complained about the “unbearable” smell of faeces and urine from waste that people discard behind his shack.

Resident Khayekethu Mboxo complained about the “unbearable” smell of faeces and urine from waste that people discard behind his shack. (Photo: Siphokazi Mnyobe)