Tin Town is a rural KwaZulu-Natal settlement on the banks of the uMvoti River. Despite its name, most of the homes there are made of red mud, clay bricks and wooden planks. The area has about 70 informal homes.
Many of the Tin Town residents are unemployed. Some rely on social grants to survive and say they have no choice but to live there. There is no formal electricity or running water. There are a handful of communal pit toilets which fill up quickly and have a terrible smell.
In 2019, the uMvoti municipality moved some of Tin Town’s residents to RDP houses as part of the Greytown Slums Clearance project. But dozens of people who did not meet the criteria had to stay behind. The municipality, in 2020, obtained a court interdict to stop more people from occupying the land.
“Every house is leaking. We need toilets and proper shelter. When it is raining, we spend our nights standing up because we fear our houses will fall on us while we sleep,” said Nothile Thusi.
Lungisile Mtshali said many of the families depend on a local feeding scheme that provides meals every Tuesday and Wednesday. The rest of the week, they go to bed hungry, said Mtshali.
She said she was among those who did not qualify for an RDP house at the Slums Clearance project. “Government only comes to us with empty promises when they need votes. They only assist with blankets when our houses burn in fires,” she said.
Ward 9 Councillor Lindokuhle Zondi promised that the municipality would deliver portable toilets to the community soon. He said a new project would be launched soon in Greytown to boost job opportunities. “Our town is small and the number of people coming here to search for jobs increases every day,” he said.
The municipality did not respond to our request for comment.
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Meep
Who was it that said that the ANC will rule until Jesus returns?
Sleek Assassin
Fun South African Fact: Vilakazi Street in Soweto has been home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners. A tour through Soweto will always stop at Vilakazi Street to reveal a number of heritage sites of great importance to democratic South Africa. Both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived here at some point in their lives. In 1984, Archbishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his non-violent fight against the apartheid regime. Nine years later in 1993, Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize with then-president F.W. de Klerk as an award for their role in bringing about the peaceful end of apartheid. Nelson Mandela then went on to become South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994.