By Rochelle Neidel
TSUMEB – Tsumeb Town engineer Junias Jacobs has said de-bushing of land has started in areas where the town council plans to build low cost housing for squatters who currently live in shacks at Soweto.
“We are busy planning to develop an area for those that have been illegally squatting in Soweto. About 35 hectares have been made available of which five hectares will be used for those currently squatting,” said Jacobs.
According to the town engineer, close to 300 people registered for relocation from Soweto to the new area situated in the north eastern part of the town.
Jacobs said sanitation was currently the main challenge in Soweto as the size of the residential area had grown to an extent that it was impossible for the municipality to provide basic services to all the people living there.
He explained that although land had been availed, the municipality still faced a challenge of servicing it as no funds were available.
“As we speak no funds are available to service the land and we await for financial assistance to start that process,” said Jacobs.
He was adamant that no developers had been contracted to develop the land. But knowledgeable sources said land was allocated to three different companies in writing, indicating that their applications were approved by council.
The sources said the applications were approved recently and included a company belonging to a local contractor from Tsumeb.
But Jacobs explained that what they were involved in was a re-location process and hence there would be no forced removals of the illegal squatters.
He said plans were underway to improve the livelihoods of those living in the informal settlement of Kuvukiland.
“Over a period of nine months we have been increasing water points at Kuvukiland and we are in the initiation stage of improving the livelihood of those living there,” he said.