Informal settlements with Hollywood names but little hope

BOIKETLONG is an informal settlement near Sebokeng in the Vaal.

It means "place of rest", but like many names in the area this is quite at odds with the reality of life there.

Nearby is a poor squatter area called Beverley Hills, and there is a Palm Springs too. These Hollywood names reflect people's yearnings, not daily reality.

I recently spent the night at Boiketlong as part of my monthly visits to neglected and forgotten areas in Gauteng.

There are four taps for about 5000 people in Boiketlong, a settlement that was started in the mid-1990s.

A young mother with children told me how exhausting it was to haul water up to 10 times a day for washing, cooking and drinking.

She used a wheelbarrow with two 25-litre plastic bottles.

This does not make for a restful existence. Nor does the lack of electricity and the crude pit toilets.

It can't be that difficult to put in extra taps, but all the informal settlements I visited had far too few water points.

One settlement is aptly called Sonderwater, with only two taps for about 6000 people.

The scandal is that a company was contracted to put in water pipes, starting in January 2008.

It was due to be completed in July that year, but was delayed because the Gauteng Housing Department failed to pay the company.

Then the company reneged on the contract and abandoned concrete pipe rings are strewn forlornly in the veld.

Sonderwater residents are understandably angry since they are victims of typically poor contract management.

In another area called Boitumelo (meaning "happiness") residents had the opposite complaint of too much water.

This is because their RDP houses were built over an underground river and regularly gets flooded.

In contrast to government mismanagement, I was struck throughout my visits by the energy and ingenuity of shack builders. Their settlements have a lot of character and community feeling that is missing in the sterile RDP developments.

I met many shack dwellers who said they had applied for RDP housing as long ago as 1994.

At Lengweleng in Sebokeng people claimed that other families were moved into the RDP houses they had been promised.

Housing allocation seems to be fraught everywhere with corruption and unfairness. Instead of false promises of RDP houses it would be better to upgrade the informal settlements.

Put in electricity, water and sanitation so that they can uplift themselves.

Walking around Boike-tlong as the sun set I heard the most beautiful gospel singing. The choir leader is an inspiring young man called Doctor Hlahane.

He told me he had formed the choir to rescue young men from a life of drugs and crime.

They sing every evening, making dance moves around a Bible on the ground.

Only two choir members have jobs, but they told me touching stories of how Hlahane had kept them from messing up their lives.

They are looking for a sponsor so that they can wear proper suits and do a recording.

I stayed the night with an elderly granny, Mathabo Mthabela, and her grandson. It was a sturdy three- room shack, but I don't know if it would keep out heavy rain.

At home I usually say the ancient Modeh Ani Hebrew prayer of gratitude to God for restoring one's soul after awakening from sleep.

It had a special meaning for me as I said it in the early morning in Boike-tlong.

I was grateful that I did not live there permanently, but sad that so many people had no other option.

I hope things will change and Boiketlong will indeed soon become a place of rest and success for all its residents.

• Bloom is an MPL and DA leader in the Gauteng legislature.