Bekkersdal community leaders were urged by Gauteng housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane on Saturday to support the government’s planned relocation of 14 000 families from the informal settlement.
Eighty percent of Bekkersdal residents will be relocated in what is likely to be the ”biggest evacuation exercise ever to be carried out” by the provincial government.
Driving the relocation is the area’s non-suitability for development as it is dolomitic and has sink holes, Mokonyane told a two-day annual general meeting to elect leadership of the Bekkersdal Development Forum.
Land has been identified in Westonaria South, Droogehuewel and Middelvlei, which are nearby to Bekkersdal, and the relocation is part of the Bekkersdal urban renewal programme.
”Apart from the relocation, the Bekkersdal renewal project is also a strategic catalyst meant to alleviate the problems of poverty and unemployment,” said Mokonyane.
Development that is not people-centred and people-driven is doomed to fail, she said.
”Given the challenges related to land security and relocation, it is important for all community leaders to bear in mind that development knows no boundaries and therefore should not be politicised.
”Your role is to contribute towards finding solutions and assisting government to improve services and living conditions of the people of Bekkersdal.”
The relocation is expected to start next year, Mokonyane’s spokesperson Victor Moreriane said. — Sapa