Families at Skeemsaam informal settlement expressed their gratitude following the electrification of the area and said the upgrade will greatly improve their living conditions.
Many of the families living at the settlement made use of open fires to cook food or boil water and candles and lamps to light their homes, which posed a fire risk, and others relied on extension cords from neighbours in order to access electricity but this was quite costly.
The residents, who were previously backyard dwellers, had complained to the City of Cape Town about the poor living conditions they were experiencing as renters including overcrowded backyards, high rents, locked toilets, little or no access to water and landlord issues.
They then occupied the open field on the corner of Falcon and Acacia roads in Lotus River eight years ago and had been requesting and protesting for municipal services since but the area is earmarked as road reserve, which made it difficult to implement certain services, said ward 66 councillor William Akim.
The electrification process, which started last week, will be completed this week and will include overhead cables, electric meter boxes in each of the 43 homes and better lighting in the settlement.
Resident Annie Jacobs, who had been living without electricity since moving to the settlement, said the lack of lighting posed a crime risk.
“We feared for our lives and safety because the settlement is open and dark so anyone could come here and rob, rape or kill us and we wouldn’t even be able to see it coming. There have also been two murders here and the fact that there was no light played a part in that because people from outside come here to do drugs and terrorise us,” she said.
Ms Jacobs thanked the City for the electrification but requested that Skeemsaam not be forgotten by the City and for further safety measures to be implemented.
Resident Natania America paid R200 for electricity each week via an extension from a nearby neighbour and said the installation of the metered boxes was a huge relief.
“We have been waiting for electricity for a very long time and I am very happy because this will make our lives so much easier and it will save us a lot of money because R200 a week is a lot but we needed to have electricity.
“We had to fight to get it but we are very happy that our pleas were finally heard and hopefully the settlement will be a lot safer because we now have light. We thank the City for doing what we requested so long ago,” said Ms America.
Mr Akim said the reason for the delay in services can be attributed to the road reserve issue and the land being occupied illegally.
“There were lots of challenges because the road is reserved for an extension of the R300 but we don’t know when the road will be extended. We then had to motivate and send proposals for services to be extended here but there are limitations to the services because of the road reserve clause,” he said.
Services that won’t be able to be provided include flushing toilets and water points for each home. At the moment residents from the settlement depend on three water points and bucket toilets.
Mr Akim thanked the Skeemsaam committee for their effort in securing services for the settlement.
Skeemsaam committee member Ronell Dowman thanked the roleplayers who contributed to making the electrification possible.
“We are forever grateful and want to extend our gratitude because it wouldn’t have been possible without their input. We are very happy because we really needed it and know our lives will be made a little bit easier because of it.”