DPW says informal settlement residents blocking Salvokop development will have to be relocated soon

JOHANNESBURG - The Department of Public Works says residents of an informal settlement blocking a multibillion-rand project will have to be relocated one way or another.

The Salvokop precinct development project in Pretoria has encountered a problem - residents of the Baghdad informal settlement refuse to clear out.

The settlement is in the way of a proposed road that would connect the Kgosi Mampuru Prison with other government headquarters currently being constructed on the site.

In January, the Department of Public Works issued a notice to all residents of the Baghdad informal settlement to evacuate the land.

READ: Salvokop informal settlement residents refuse to be relocated to make way for multibillion-rand development project

The notice said that they were illegally occupying government-owned land and were blocking a development project.

The department has built corrugated iron houses next to the settlement for the relocation, however, one of the community leaders, Opulence Mavuso, said that they were not suitable.

"The reason we don’t want to move there is very small to accommodate anyone. We take it as we are not being relocated, it's kind of an eviction strategy."

Without providing much details, spokesperson for the department, Lennox Mabaso, said that the relocation would take place soon as the project needed to continue.