Placing poor out of sight is no solution

Click here to link to the full report via the DAG website.

Helen Macgregor, Informal Settlement Upgrading Co-ordinator, Development Action Group

Stories from families relocated to the Delft Temporary Relocation Area (TRA) in 2005 are disturbing, and provide insight into the concerns underpinning the protests of present Joe Slovo residents refusing to relocate. The protests are a desperate response to the lack of opportunity to influence the N2 Gateway Project. Statements by the Minister of Housing, Dr Lindiwe Sisulu on 12 September are disappointingly coercive in that removal from the housing waiting list would constitute a de facto threat to the constitutional (and human) rights of the protestors. The Minister’s response challenges the rights of the poor on two critical levels. Firstly, it challenges their right to demand access to adequate housing and challenge or question state policy and practice. Secondly, it challenges their right to adequate housing which is recognised globally as the right to a dwelling that not only provides adequate shelter but which is, amongst others, also properly located in order to provide access to economic opportunities and other amenities necessary to support the wellbeing of residents.