RDP houses in Rama City, Ga-Rankuwa. Picture: Jacques Naude/African News Agency (ANA)
Pretoria - The community of Rama City in Pretoria is today taking their fight for basic infrastructure developments and title deeds to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
Community leader Sinah Mothapo said they were prepared to stand up for themselves and fight for their right to basic infrastructure.
She said they were unhappy because the rollout of infrastructure to the community of about 3 000 households had suddenly stopped.
“The area is rezoned and has been approved by the government, and already more than 2 500 RDP houses have been built and allocated to beneficiaries. The community is awaiting letters that represent ownership until they receive their title deeds.”
Mothapo said basic services such as sewers, water and electricity were being rolled out, and the community was benefiting from the projects in the form of job opportunities and skills transfer.
“But the sewer line is not yet completed. The residents use mobile toilets. The electricity connection is not complete, the water project is complete at least, but the tarred road is still in the making.”
Mothapo said the residents were affected by this because they had small children and elderly members in the community, while some families had disabled persons who needed the basic necessities and infrastructure.
“We hope the judge will consider the plight of the community and the future of our children. If the development stops it means most families will go hungry and their kids will starve.”
Mothapo said the services were not complete, but the municipality and developers had pushed for them to have water, electricity and proper roads, a pre-school, clinic and soon there would be a sewer line.
“As a community we want to have title deeds and own our homes, but some come and disturb the progress and treat other South Africans as foreigners in their own country.”
If the development stopped it would lead to informal settlements, and the dream of making Rama City what it can be would die, Mothapo said. The City of Tshwane and Rural Development and Land Reform Department had yet to comment by late yesterday.
Pretoria News