11 November 2024
Dozens of residents stormed out of a meeting held by the City of Johannesburg in Eldorado Park at the weekend when their demand for housing was not addressed. Photo: Silver Sibiya
Dozens of residents of Eldorado Park and Kliptown stormed out of a planning meeting with City of Johannesburg officials at the weekend, demanding housing.
The meeting on Saturday, led by Speaker Nobuhle Mthembu, was to give residents a chance to make inputs into the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the budget of the City.
But the meeting collapsed when dozens of participants stormed out of the community hall in Eldorado Park when no new information on housing was given to them. After long discussions outside, some residents returned to the meeting but others left.
There have been talks of a mega housing project near Eldorado Park for years.
The priorities listed in the draft IDP are a skills development centre, the upgrading of the clinic, and a request for a multipurpose centre in the area. But residents say housing is more urgent as their area is overcrowded. Eldorado Park community leader !Xam Duart complained about the lack of RDP houses built in Eldorado Park since the beginning of democratic government.
Resident Prince Naidoo said: “We come to these meetings but nothing happens.” “We have to take to the streets,” he said.
Mthembu acknowledged that shortages of housing were a major problem across the City. She said the backlog dated back to 1994-96 and some of the responsibility lay with the provincial government. She encouraged residents to engage with the City. “As you have seen there was uproar, but we need a quorum,” she said.
Mthembu said the community’s demands would be forwarded to the relevant departments and the mayor or the mayco member for human settlements would “touch base” with the provincial housing department. She promised another meeting to give residents feedback.