At stake is Leeupan, one of Gauteng's endangered wetlands. A R70-million community and environment centre is being built next to it to commemorate Oliver Tambo  who, with his wife, is buried in the township. Two sections of Wattville – called Beachfront and Egypt – were moved to nearby Daveyton to make way for the first phase of construction. But in the last section of Wattville, where some have lived for two decades, people do not seem to know that they will have to move.

Architect's impressions of the OR Tambo Environment and Narrative Centre show a wide band of green growth around the pan. This extends to the arterial roads that run along the ridgelines around the pan. The constant hum of vehicles whizzing to Johannesburg drowns out all other noise.

For most residents of Wattville, the development isn't a problem. They live across a narrow tarred  road, a few hundred metres from the pan. It provides a pitch for aspiring football players and a few gaps in the ­pavement lead into the section that will be moved.

Residents will be able to walk across the road and into a sprawling environmental centre around the edges of the pan. Inside, children will learn about both the ­environment and the struggle ­history of Tambo and the ANC.

The centre incorporates all the cutting-edge elements of environmental best practice. Natural light is brought into buildings, the roofs of which are covered in soil and local grass to blend into the area. All the water is recycled and heat from the earth and the foundations warms the rooms. It also boasts the first municipally-owned solar plant in the country. Rows of north-facing panels provide 200 kilowatt hours of energy.

Ubiquitous
This part is almost complete, and only a few walls still need to be finished off. The brown creosote paint on the wooden walkways is still sticky. Chairs, still wrapped in plastic, and displays are already in place.

But beyond the 2m-high green ­palisade fence surrounding the centre, a jumbled mass of informal housing stands in the way of the last phases of the project. Silver zinc roofs and orange chemical toilets are ubiquitous. In some parts, thick grey smoke rises from fires that are being lit for cooking.

The rough streets wind their way down the slope towards Leeupan, creating dongas. A particularly large one, packed with trash, cuts the community in two. A thick plank is the only way across. People have to wait their turn to cross with containers of water filled from a nearby dripping tap.

Wattville is Thabite Malike's home. She doesn't know how long she has lived here: "Since my children were so big," she says, pointing to the level of her knees. She is surprised when we ask if she knows about the move.

"I have heard nothing about moving. This is my home," she says.

She is almost drowned out by a billy goat chasing a nanny goat around. A neighbour throws rocks at them, in a vain attempt to stop the courting.

Sitting in a deep armchair alongside the only main dirt road in the community, Esther Chauke is similarly confused by the M&G's inquiry. "Nobody told us anything about this." She has heard gossip about a possible move, but nothing concrete.

Political reasons

The only person who seems to know what's happening behind the scenes declines to be named "for political reasons". The discussions about relocation have been going back and forth for a few years. "First they promised to build us RDP houses, here," he says, pointing down at the patch of grass in his small yard. "Then they told us they would build flats for us somewhere else."

Warning tape was placed on his fence to show where a pipeline was going to have to be built through his yard. It was to threaten him, he says. "I will not move for this development. This is my home for more than 20 years."

Thobeka Tshole has the opposite view. Her tiny shack is not wide enough for a person to stretch out both arms.

"I am happy to move," she says, while hanging her washing on a wire line strung up between shacks. "The municipality told us we will have new houses in Daveyton."

Johan Barnard of Newtown Landscape Architects, which is managing the project, says there are problems with relocating the rest of the community because space has not been found for them to move to. "The rest will be moved, there are just delays."

Only part of the project is affected by the delay, he says, and not the main section. The last portions of the precinct – the tree-lined pathways linking it to the Tambo memorial 500m away – are now being finished.

The Leeupan wetland itself is starting to recover because there are fewer people living in close proximity to it, Barnard says. But it is still being polluted. "The main source of water is from a storm drain and this has brought pollution into the pan."

The department of water affairs, which has embarked on a major campaign to clean wetlands, says it is much cheaper to rehabilitate a wetland to clean water than to build a water treatment plant. Clean water created by fixing a wetland costs R2 per cubic metre while water cleaned through a plant can cost  more than double that.

Ward councillor Stephen Sibiya did not respond to numerous attempts to contact him.

A home to ANC royalty

Wattville is the product of a forced relocation. In 1941, the black residents of neighbouring Actonville were moved and a new community was founded. An industrial area and small airport form the opposite boundaries of the community. When they wanted to expand these, the apartheid government sought to demolish Wattville. But this did not happen.  

It grew larger and became the home of Oliver and Adelaide Tambo – two of the founding royals of the ANC.

The longest-serving head of the ANC in exile is now buried there with his wife. Nearby Tamboville township is named after them.