Duane Petrus – The Henry Brookes Hall in Heidedal, Bloemfontein, was fully packed last night by dissatisfied residents who have formed a squatter camp in the area.
This comes after hundreds of community members invaded an open veld on Saturday to start living here.
They met with employees of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality to hear how their demands for proper housing would be addressed.
The municipality’s MMC for housing, Xolo Pongolo, said the apartheid government structured communities in a way that leaves no room for expansion.
He added that the municipality is already looking at relocating many Bloemfontein communities to town, with Heidedal as a priority.
“Let us think about this piece of land. There is a sewer line next to this piece of land, which is already filled to capacity. If you put another pipe next to that sewer line, the smell will come to this side,” Pongolo said.
The residents did not welcome the proposal of relocating at all, their main reason being that they have children attending schools in the area.
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