June 2018 MID JULY 2017
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New Dunoon on the cards DUNOON | JOE SLOVO PARK | WOLVERIVIER | KWA 5 | KILLARNEY GARDENS | MONTAGUE GARDENS | MILNERTON | TABLE VIEW | WITSAND
City buys a 71 hectare farm to provide different housing opportunities for Dunoon
Brett Herron flanked by ANC ward councillor Lubabalo Makeleni and Cape Town executive mayor Patricia de Lille at a housing development expo in Dunoon. Photo. Peter Luhanga
To quell the outrage over the lack of housing opportunities in Dunoon, the city of Cape Town undertook a two-day expo to inform residents about planned infrastructure developments in the area; which have been rocked by ongoing illegal land invasions. Dunoon has seen an unprecedented spate of illegal land invasions, with residents more recently setting alight the ward councillor’s office on Sunday, June 10. The setting alight of
the office was in retaliation to the City’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) which demolished their housing structures illegally erected on municipal land in the area. Following this, the city hosted a three-day public expo to inform residents about its planned major infrastructure developments for the area. At the expo on Thursday, June 14, mayoral committee member for transport and urban development, Brett Herron, told residents at the expo that the nd a ctohaspend nce to over R40& staplans City
million upgrading the Dunoon taxi rank, and a contractor has already been appointed, with construction to start in the next two months. Herron also unveiled the housing development plans that he had announced on May 20, where the City had purchased the Annandale Farm measuring 71 (ha) and situated across the N7, near Richwood. Herron said the plans were to create a town and provide different types of low-cost housing opportunities. “The idea is to create a place
where people would be able to shop. Different people will qualify for different types of housing products. There will be housing opportunities for people earning different incomes. We are not trying to leave anyone out,” said Herron. He said the initial desktop study showed that a total of 3 600 housing opportunities will be provided on the piece of land, but, the number would increase as the city plans to build duplexes and townhouses. “We will create something special. There will be underpasses under the highway [the N7] where people will have access [link with Dunoon]. Dunoon is an area which is extremely well located and that is why it is overcrowded. This is our opportunity to create an integrated location. Wolwerivier was going to be the site we were going to build on but we’ve moved those plans to Annadale because it’s better located,” he said. A map displaying the land was hung inside the municipal hall walls and residents took turns to look at it. Also hung on the wall were the plans for the proposed future housing development in Annadale. City of Cape Town executive
mayor, Patricia de Lille, said that the city was trying to improve communication with residents by hosting public open day engagements. “Sometimes you see all these protests because people do not know what is happening,” said De Lille. She said that there will be no further development at Wolwerivier. The area, she said, will remain for emergency housing opportunities. ANC ward councillor, Lubabalo Makeleni, whose children and wife were threatened with death by residents protesting against the demolition of their shacks by the ALIU, on June 8 and 9, said that he was excited that the housing project was turning into reality. “Dunoon is coming together nicely. The area is getting attention from the city. But we can’t be completely happy because the planned housing development will not accommodate all qualifying residents. We have been pushing city officials to start working hard to identify another vacant piece of land, which will cater for housing accommodation for more people in Dunoon,” said Makeleni. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2