“I’m so grateful to God that he gave us a home,” says Pieter Windvogel Soetland (81).
Squinting in the sun, turning his face into its warmth, he closes his eyes as long lines crease his cheeks into a smile.
He is one of 10 beneficiaries who received the keys to his new home in Dido Valley, Simon’s Town on Wednesday 25 October.
The R170 million Simon’s Town project is made up of 600 housing opportunities, of which 500 are subsidised Breaking New Ground (BNG) houses earmarked for beneficiaries from Red Hill while 100 are houses for Luyolo land claimants. “It is really hard living in a shack,” says Soetland. “I lived in Red Hill for around 30 years.”
The first to receive his keys from Mayco member for human settlements Carl Pophaim on Wednesday, the elderly man with hunched shoulders and slow, steady steps, walked through the two-bedroom home.
According to Pophaim, work on site is progressing well with an expected completion of all homes by June 2025.
“This housing project not only empowers beneficiaries as first-time homeowners, but it also brings together a community that was so tragically severed.
“This is a very real example of redress and restitution in action and of our dedication to building an improved future for those who bore the brunt of the apartheid policies.”
He adds that Luyolo claimants have also been receiving their homes as and when they’ve been completed.
“This well-located project also enables and unlocks affordable housing in this area for residents who are among the most vulnerable in the metro.”
Fundiswa Grabile (56), an unemployed mother of two from Red Hill, says it is exciting to move into her own home. “I have been waiting a long time.
“It’s so cold inside a shack so, I am very excited and happy.”
The majority of the beneficiaries for the BNG component of the project come from the Redhill informal settlement, which is located between Simon’s Town and Scarborough.
The Luyolo beneficiaries are from Gugulethu. They were forcibly removed from Simon’s Town to Gugulethu in the mid-1960s under the Group Areas Act.
The project has a combined support organisation representing the two groups of beneficiaries from Redhill and Luyolo respectively.
Ward 69 councillor Patricia Francke says it is exciting to see beneficiaries finally move into their new homes. “As a ward councillor I started in Red Hill 25 years ago where there were 500 houses at the time.
“Getting to know the people and working closer with them, they were always thinking about when they would have houses.
“For the people of Red Hill there is so much excitement, this is what they wanted and long for, for many years.”
Francke says it was especially heart warming to see the elderly have their own homes. “If I look at the first house for Mr Windvogel, I grew up in front of him and here today I saw him take his own keys to his house.
“I am glad for the old people that they can say it is their own houses.”
