Zikode informal settlement’s battle for basic City of Ekurhuleni services highlights systemic inequality

Residents of Zikode Village gather for a community meeting to discuss the service delivery issues plaguing the informal settlement. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)

By Lerato Mutsila

1 Aug 2024

Residents of the Zikode Village informal settlement say they are tired of being overlooked by the City of Ekurhuleni’s Department of Human Settlements after years without access to water, sanitation or electricity.

Access to basic services like water, electricity and sanitation is hard to come by for those who live in a small informal settlement in Tembisa, Gauteng. This is not for a lack of trying, according to residents who say they are being given the runaround by the City of Ekurhuleni’s Department of Human Settlements.

Zikode Village was set up by the shack dwellers’ movement Abahlali baseMjondolo after members of the organisation occupied vacant land next to the Mooifontein Cemetery in 2020. Despite run-ins with the police, the ward councillor and the City of Ekurhuleni – as well as legal battles that spanned two years – residents went to court and got permission to remain in the settlement.

Four years later, having secured the right to occupy the land, their right to basic services is being denied.

Zwelibanzi Dube has lived in Zikode Village since 2019. He says he has no confidence in the City of Ekurhuleni to provide the community with the services it needs. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)

Zwelibanzi Dube leads Daily Maverick through the narrow streets of Zikode Village, highlighting the lack of infrastructure plaguing the informal settlement. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)

Fight for services

“We don’t have toilets. We don’t have electricity, we don’t even have water. We as a community have to come together and collect money just to hustle for water. Only about five shacks have electricity in Zikode,” said settlement chairperson Makhosi Nala.

Nala said the residents of Zikode want to be treated fairly, but every time they approach the municipality about receiving services, they are made to jump through hoops and once again meet a dead end.

“The department once agreed to give us toilets, but when they delivered them, they were taken elsewhere. Most of us don’t have something as basic as toilets. What are we meant to do?” Nala said.

Zwelibanzi Dube, a Zikode Village resident, said: “These conditions are quite disruptive … they make a person forget the importance of basic services and accept it as a normal way of life. Maybe that’s what they want, for us to think God created us to live like this. It’s not the system that created this.”

He said he was born in Tembisa and now lives as though he is homeless.

Nale said a settlement that lies alongside Zikode, allegedly supported by ward councillor Henrick Seloane, was established well after Zikode. It apparently received water within three days of being built. The community leader said he suspected political affiliations played a role.

All the people living in the settlement want a life of dignity. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)

A shack in Zikode informal settlement. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)

Dube said: “If you are not a colleague of the councillor or a card-carrying member of the ANC, then you don’t deserve anything. You are just regarded as a blank slate.”

Daily Maverick called Seloane for comment but the phone rang answered.

Officials from the City of Ekurhuleni’s Department of Human Settlements were in the area doing a site inspection shortly before Daily Maverick visited Zikode Village. They were measuring the streets to see if they were compliant with the rollout of certain services.

The department is expected to present a report on providing services in the area, but residents doubted whether this would actually happen. The department did not respond to Daily Maverick’s request for comment.

Zikode Village is not the only one in the area affected by the lack of services. Basic services are also hard to come by in a settlement the residents call Dumping, named after the fact that it was built on top of a former dumping site.

“That place has been there for nearly 30 years now, and every time they allocate the IDP [Integrated Development Plan] budget, dumping is not mentioned. After 30 years, if they are still struggling with services and development, what are the chances for us?” Dube asked.

“The officials say we put ourselves here and that we are not the government’s responsibility.

“We really do not have any confidence in these people.”

Residents of Zikode Village gather for a community meeting to discuss the service delivery issues plaguing the informal settlement. (Photo: Lerato Mutsila)

Rise of land occupations

The tough economic conditions not only in Gauteng but throughout the country have made living in congested informal settlements the only option for many struggling South Africans.

According to the 2022 Census, the government has made headway in addressing this, with the population count revealing that 88.5% live in formal housing. However, the rapid rate of urbanisation and the unemployment crisis have led to many people occupying vacant land as their only alternative.

These statistics were echoed by Dube, who said, “We realised when looking at the rate of unemployment that people who don’t have an income are not going to be able to afford accommodation. There are no houses for them and RDPs are hard to come by. So what must happen to those people who have no homes and can’t afford to change that? So that is what happened … people start occupying land as a social movement.”

Dube added that while ultimately the best solution would be to provide land to people, the government does not own most of the land in South Africa; it is in the hands of private owners.

“Normally, we are regarded as land invaders; we are not regarded as people who deserve to accommodate ourselves and our families.”

Looking forward, Dude said all the community wanted was for the settlement to get basic services.

“We are looking for a way of pushing them to make sure that we get an immediate response. We have been talking to them for years, but still nothing. We marched, but marches don’t work. We wrote petitions, but they don’t work. So, we are looking at legal options now. It is the only way.” DM

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Fight for services

Rise of land occupations