Tshwane plan to relocate east informal settlement dwellers unfolds
The Tshwane metro confirmed that the construction drawings for the establishment of the Pretorius Park Ext 40 Township are now being finalised and will soon be submitted to the relevant authorities to pave the way for development shortly.
This move marks a step towards the long-anticipated relocation of residents from Cemetery View and Plastic View informal settlements in the east of Pretoria.
The city also revealed that the Surveyor General Diagrams for the long-awaited township development have been approved.
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said a multidisciplinary team was officially appointed on June 12, 2024, to drive the project.
'The team of engineers and specialists are currently busy with the planning phase, working on designs to prepare the land that will ultimately accommodate hundreds of families living in the fire-prone settlements.'
The long-anticipated relocation of residents from Cemetery View and Plastic View informal settlements is a dawn that thousands of east ratepayers eagerly await.
Once complete, Pretorius Park Ext 40 is expected to form part of the city's broader spatial integration plan, offering both government-subsidised housing and social rental units to residents currently living in unsafe and overcrowded conditions.
Pretorius Park Ext 40 will integrate the poor into the affluent Garsfontein area, in pursuit of spatial transformation and integration principles espoused in the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (Act No. 16 of 2013).
East of Pretoria ratepayers have been calling on the municipality to relocate residents from informal settlements through legal efforts to evict them, having been in the courts for years with multiple failed eviction processes thwarted by Human Rights organisations.
Pretorius Park will ultimately offer 863 housing units, 300 of which will be fully subsidised by the government. The remaining units will be allocated for social housing rental stock.
The qualifying beneficiaries from Cemetery View (currently home to 866 households) and Plastic View (with over 900 households) will be relocated to the new development.
Mashigo said a contractor will be appointed during the 2025/26 financial year.
'The project is still in the planning phase; the contractor will be appointed in the next financial year. The designs and construction drawings are underway currently,' said Mashigo.
Previously, the municipality said a submission was made to the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements to fund the top structure construction under the current Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
This will follow the installation of bulk infrastructure, including water, sewer, roads, and stormwater systems.
The relocation of Cemetery View residents has been discussed for over a decade.
In 2010, the city attempted to prevent land invasions by demolishing structures and evicting illegal occupiers at the Cemetery View informal settlement.
However, after a court case brought to the North Gauteng High Court, the city was ordered to provide emergency relief in the form of temporary shelters. This led to a court settlement on August 18, 2010, requiring the city to eventually provide permanent alternative accommodation.
The process has since faced multiple objections from neighbouring property owners, homeowner associations, and civil society organisations.
The city had to revise and resubmit its township planning application in March 2020, which was only approved by the Municipal Planning Tribunal in August 2022.
The final approval for the Conditions of Establishment and Layout Plan for Pretorius Park Ext 40 was granted on January 3 2023, clearing a major hurdle in the city's goal of building a formal, integrated community in the Garsfontein area.
Mashigo said the city will expedite the implementation of Pretorious Park Ext 40 and ensure that the urban management activities are implemented on both informal settlements to prevent any further pollution and invasion.
'In the interim, Tshwane Metro Police Department is deployed on site to attend to any transgressions of law.'
The city previously said it is pushing for the relocation move to be at least by 2029.
Mashigo mentioned previously that the city has limited powers over evictions due to the existing court order, which makes it difficult for the city to implement certain measures.
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