Question NW2400 to the Minister of Transport

Reply:

a) There is currently in excess of 7800 households in the Western Cape Province who have illegally occupied the PRASA railway reserve along the Central Line. The areas occupied covers the rail reserves in Langa, Phillipi and Khayelitsha. Therefore, it is currently impossible for PRASA to rehabilitate or upgrade railway infrastructure or resume commuter rail services in the Central Line.

The Department, together with the National Departments of Human Settlements, Public Works & Infrastructure, Western Cape Provincial Departments of Human Settlements, Transport and Public Works, the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality and PRASA has decided that a joined approach will be taken to come up with sustainable solutions to be able to relocate households who have illegally occupied the railway reserve. In order to effect this decision, the parties has decided to enter into an Implementation Protocol that will facilitate decisions taken to find suitable alternative land to resettle the households and to ensure a process to restore the rail services in the Central Line corridor.

b) PRASA is working together with the Western Cape Department of Human Settlement and the City of Cape Town to identify suitable parcels of land and to install minimum services on this land to relocate the illegal occupants. Two (2) land parcels were identified in Eersterivier offered by the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure and the Western Cape Provincial Department of Transport and Infrastructure for the Langa Relocation Program.

The Court Order stipulates that the relocation should take place on or before 26th November 2021, subject to conditions, including implementation of services which will necessitate preparation of the two land parcels. To access the identified state land, a motivation was made to the City of Cape Town to undertake an internal application to declare these two land parcels as emergency relocation sites so that immediate access could be obtained and land preparation could resume. On 22 September 2021, PRASA and the Housing Development Agency made this application to the City of Cape Town. On 18 October 2021, the City of Cape Town declined the application on the basis that there is threat of opposition from a Developer owning an Estate in the Eersterivier area and that there is a petition from the receiving community in opposition of the relocation.

PRASA is currently addressing the matter through intensive consultations with the City of Cape Town, WC Provincial Government, the Eersterivier receiving community and the Langa affected communities. The consultations are currently on-going.