Portfolio Committee on Housing

Siyabonga GamaTransnet Limited

14 November 2006

2Request for a briefing

• Letter dated 24 October 2006–Request for a briefing on informal settlements along the railway

lines

3

INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS ON THE RAIL RESERVE

INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS ON THE RAIL RESERVE

November 2006

4Problem statement

• Witnessed the mushrooming of informal settlements alongside railway lines

• Statutes dictate that you may not evict communities unless you have alternative property to resettle them

• Proximity to train operations exposes communities to severe danger

• Negative impact on safety, security, operations and asset integrity

• Fencing structures have been vandalised/removed

5Problem statement continued

• Increasing pressure on safety – settlements too close to railway lines

• Increasing likelihood of accidents

• Illegal level crossings – pedestrian and vehicles on daily basis increasing risk of fatalities

• Costly and time consuming evictions and resettlements (currently cost to Spoornet +_ R2.5m per site)

6Number of settlements

Region High Medium Low

Central Region(Durban – Gauteng – Polokwane corridor)

27 41 36

Western Region(Cape Town – EL – PE – Bloemfontein – Northern Cape corridor) 

10 8 18

Eastern Region(Richards Bay – Ermelo – Witbank – Nelspruit corridor)

4 32 30

TOTAL 41 81 84

7Impact on Operations

• Negatively affects Train Schedule (speed restrictions)

• Illegal crossings result - on average 150 fatalities per annum

• Crime (obstructions on railway line, theft, damaging signals) has escalated in areas where railway reserve is traversed by informal settlements

• Almost impossible to get emergency vehicles into informal settlements

• Delay in emergency and clean-up operations

8Impact on Infrastructure

• Erosion of rail embankment

• Vandalism/sabotage of signalling systems – can lead to derailments

• Theft of overhead Cables – leads to derailments and electrocutions

• Vandalism/sabotage of points

• Threat to maintenance personnel

9Impact on Safety

• Increased risk of accidents

• Uncontrolled pedestrian crossing of lines

• Health hazards to employees, passengers and inhabitants of settlements

• Illegal level crossings (vehicles)

• Hazardous goods transported by rail – ammonia gas, fertilizer, diesel, explosives, disastrous consequences when trains derail

10Impact on inhabitants of informal settlements

• Death or injury in case of accident/hazmat incident

• Children grow up next to rail – no natural fear for moving trains

• Lack of basic services

11Challenges

• Legal process (long)

• Dependency on Municipalities for alternative housing as required by Prevention of illegal eviction act (PIE)

• Limited capacity (manpower, funds, land availability)

• Community resistance

12Possible solutions

•Integrated approach (Government, Transnet, other SOEs)- Provision of housing and establishment of temporary relocation areas

•Interventions from the Legislature and Cabinet

•Legislative amendments

•Community awareness and participation

13Assistance required

• Municipalities to create Temporary Relocation Areas for urgent relocation of hot spot settlements (safety/crime etc)

• Provincial & National Government to provide funding for TRA’s as well as policies regarding establishment of TRA’s and top down pressure on Municipalities to accommodate urgent requests for relocation of informal settlements

• Judiciary - courts to accept relocation to a TRA in the granting of an eviction order

14Assistance required continued

• Legislative amendments :

- The very wide interpretation of the applicability of the PIE Act

- PIE to clarify at what stage an informal structure can still be demolished without a court order, and at what stage it can still be considered to be trespassing

- Responsibilities of SAPS to act when a new land invasion is reported by a land owner

15Assistance required continued

• Legislative amendments :

- Permanent eviction orders for properties/land portions (if land gets re-invaded, repeat execution of initial eviction order in stead of going through the whole process again

- Amendment to Prevention of Illegal Eviction and Occupation of Land Act (Act 19 of 1998) – to be amended to reflect all of the above

16Eviction/Relocation Procedure

• Identify and prioritise resettlement

• Negotiate with affected municipality for alternative housing/land (including municipal process for housing subsidies)

• Community consultation – negotiated relocation vs court ordered eviction

• Registration of affected persons – qualifiers vs non-qualifiers

17Eviction/Relocation Procedure continued

• Application for eviction order

• Execution of eviction order

• Securing the land

• Emergency Housing Policy – not effective in urgent relocations (still takes too long)

18Stakeholders : Dealing with the challenges

• Minister for Public Enterprises • Minister of Transport • Other Government Departments (Housing, DPLG, Land Affairs etc)• Provincial and Local Authorities• Transnet• Judiciary• Ward Councillors and Ward Committees• NGO’s, CBO’s, Civic Organisations, Organisation for Landless

People• Community leaders• Occupants of informal settlements

19Current Interventions

• Relocation Strategy – Identify, prioritise, commence negotiations with

-Municipalities-Ward Councillors-Communities

• Once alternative land is made available by the relevant municipality, commence with application for eviction order

• If an eviction order is granted, Sheriff of the Court executes and costs referred back to Applicant

• Fencing of cleared land where financially and topographically feasible

• Pro-active identification of vulnerable areas and preventive fencing

Thank you