After years of fighting and pleading with the City of Cape Town to provide 18th Avenue informal settlement residents with basic services such as running water, their cries seem to have been finally heard.
Recently, the City announced its intentions to provide the settlement with water standpipes.
And late last month, the City installed a water meter on the periphery of the informal settlement.
Zahid Badroodien, Mayco member for water and sanitation, says the City is unable to provide the informal settlement with taps on site as they are situated on private property.
He says the City’s Informal Settlements Basic Services branch, within the Water and Sanitation department, has applied to install standpipes on the periphery of the property, which was successful.
Badroodien says the installation of the two standpipes (each standpipe includes two taps) is envisaged to take place by the end of the month.
“This is a dream come true,” says Illona Crouch, a committee member for the informal settlement.
“I can’t express to you how good it feels. A lot of the residents have given up already because we keep on trying and each time we were rejected. At least now, even though we don’t have electricity we have water. In many instances people’s homes burnt down, then we can’t even help because there is no water.”
For more than 20 years, hundreds of people have been calling this open piece of land also known as “The Bush” home. A home without running water, electricity or toilets.
Crouch says they are all grateful to have access to water.
“Now we don’t have to feel bad when our children go to school and think how our children will smell in school because there is water to wash them. If it wasn’t for the Kensington Factreton Residents and Ratepayers Association (KFRRA) then we would be forgotten. I am thankful for them for putting pressure on the City to help us. Even people like Kevin Inglis, the Kenfac CAN and Play Sport 4 Life never gave up hope.”
During the initial lockdown the City rolled out a water tank programme to informal settlements in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. But residents in the bush had countless challenges with the water truck often not pitching up for several days.
“Now we don’t have to rush. We don’t have to wonder will the water truck arrive today or not. Last week, a man who has been living here for 20 years thanked me and said at least I managed to get something right to get us water,” explains Crouch.
Doris Thorne, who has been living there for more than nine years, says she is grateful.
“This is a relief for us, and we are very grateful for it. At least now we have free flowing water.”
Magmoeda Godoernewald moved there recently and says it was a daily struggle to find water.
“I am so grateful to God. There were times my husband and I had to go around to look where we can find water. Now we can fill our bottles and wash. It’s a big help. It’s the water that’s important.”
Leslie Swartz, chair for the KFRRA, says they have been fighting with the City for years to get the residents access to running water.
“We have always maintained that we don’t see why people that are on so-called private property are being denied access to piped water when the City has identified that they own land on the periphery on the site, so we could never understand the logic by them not wanting to make that provision.”
Swartz believes the shift in the City’s new executive made a big change.
“We welcome the new Mayoral committee that deals with water and sanitation, and we are quite happy that there’s been a new leadership perspective at addressing old problems.”
Swartz says while residents from the informal settlements’ battle for other services like affordable housing and electricity still remain, this installation of water is a start.
“We applaud all the efforts made over the years by many of the people for access to clean piped water as it is entrenched in the Constitution, and we just find it very deplorable that the department we had in the past found insurmountable reasons why piped water should not be provided.”
Kevin Inglis, group spokesperson, says: “After almost two years of fighting for running water and knocking on doors, people in new positions in the City of Cape Town understood the need for the informal settlement to have running water. The informal settlement is grateful and extremely happy. A big thanks also needs to go to the Kenfac ratepayers who were very instrumental and compassionate in helping this cause. Sanitation is also on the cards and refuse removal needs to be discussed.
