Residents of Braeyln, East London are complaining about the dilapidated temporary houses that they live in.
In 2013, a huge fire broke out in Duncan Village, East London a number of residents were left homeless after their shacks were burnt down. One of the ways to help the residents, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality had to take the residents and place them in temporary housing structures which are situated in the area of Braeyln not far from Duncan Village. The conditions in which people of this area live in are bad, because the temporary houses are dug up and the roof are leaking.
The residents said they want Buffalo City Municipality to build them permanent houses, because they are tired of this situation. There are more than 100 residents who were moved to these temporary houses and all of them depend on five public toilets which are now blocked and they hide in the bushes to help themselves. They only have two water pumps. According to the municipality report, 20 public toilets were built but they were damage due to poor construction.
Residents are also complaining about the water they collect from the taps that are built within the same public toilets that are damaged, saying they are do not know if the water is clean or not because of the smell. Residents and young children in the area complain about health issues and they say that they suspect the water. Mzingisi Zweni, a housing committee in the area said they have made all the efforts to seek help from BCM and they were sent to different offices with no solid solutions.
BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said, ” The purpose of building people temporary houses is to remove them from their place with the desire to build them permanent houses. The reason for the delay in building permanent houses is that the municipality system dragged it’s feet according to the plans that were prepared due to circumstances, and we as the municipality will intervene in this situation.
