Housing Crisis | Uproar over relocation of residents to 'Ghost Town'

CAPE TOWN - Nearly 70 families from the Salt River Market will move to the Ghost Town informal settlement near Gate 1 Cemetery. 

It’s being built to fast-track Cape Town’s social housing plans.

The Kensington Rate Payers Association is strongly opposing the transfer, accusing the city of dumping undesired people in its community.

To stop the city's plans, a local ward councillor, Cheslyn Steenberg, has collected 1,600 signatures and threatened legal action. He claims he has requested officials to pause construction and address community concerns.

READ: Residents oppose relocation of shack-dwellers to school's sports ground

While people on the outside are opposed to the transfer, residents here feel they have waited too long for possibilities

Cape Town housing MMC, Carl Pophaim, says he’s astonished by the local ward councillor's change of attitude, as he had previously expressed his support for the site's development.

Pophaim says he and the mayor will be meeting with the Kensington and Maitland ratepayers associations next week to iron out issues.

eNCA’s Nobesuthu Hejana reports.

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