When I read in the Advertiser about the Angelo informal settlement upcoming eviction, I was elated.
I have lived in the area since 2007, and have been horrified at the continuous deterioration of the surrounding area due to the continued existence of the settlement.
The noise, air and health pollution have become unbearable and we, the residents of the area. They had all but given up hope that the squatter camp would ever be moved.
On weekends sleep is but an elusive ideal because of the shebeens that operate in the area, have their liveliest trade between Saturday afternoon till Sunday morning in the wee hours.
We continuously have inebriated occupants from the squatter camp screaming, shouting and fighting on Main Reef Road over the weekend.
The pavement outside our complex entrance is inundated with multitudes of hawkers who liberally throw their rubbish around. The municipal park up the road has become a convenient location for loitering and hawkers alike.
The worst, however, is that on a bi-monthly basis, tyres and all assortments of rubbish are burnt at the Angelo dump, and a thick, choking, black smoke covers the area.
I, myself, have two small children and I have already seen the impact this air pollution has on their health (as well as mine and my spouse’s).
Thank you to Living Africa for not being absentee owners and for taking an interest in the welfare of the residents who have lived there for many years.
Residents are forced to sell their properties in the area at below cost in an effort to move to other more ‘acceptable’ suburbs, because unfortunately the assumption is that we are of low-class.
My fervent wish is that Living Africa Properties succeeds in fulfilling their mandate and that our once lovely area can be rehabilitated and the dignity of our environment restored.
