The City of Cape Town’s Human Settlements department says it’s planning to deal with an increase in what its calls shack farming.
It’s the alleged practice of social housing recipients, renting out either their informal structures or new homes for financial gain.
The department says not only is this illegal, it also hinders the progress in addressing the housing crisis in the city.
Mayoral Committee (Mayco) member human settlements, City of Cape Town Malusi Booi says, “I’ve now commissioned my officials to work out a system that will be able to track and geo-locate those people who have received houses, because I want to track who has received a house, who is remaining in an informal settlement so that we can take action around those activities.”
Resident Thoko Xingwa says, “It’s wrong because they don’t have electricity, our houses are dirty, even here there is supposed to be in our map, this place from there is supposed to be open space, we don’t have walking space to get (the) mall, there’s no way to go.”
Informal Dwelling resident Nontobeko Matyesini says, “I did not have a place to stay and I was unemployed surviving on a grant and then I bought a shack with the intention to rent because I was evicted from where I was staying. I then stayed in that shack; someone put me into that shack. I didn’t just live in that shack for the sake of it a person who told me to occupy that shack told me that no-one would evict me.”
Community leaders say they do not encourage shack farming.
South African National Civic Organisation Zimisele Yakobi says, “We sat down and agreed that after their houses have been built they can go back to their houses that was the agreement, now the only problem is that once they moved into their houses, they sell their shacks to other people.”
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