GROUNDUPSewerage maintenance, relocation of Khayelitsha families delayed after vandalism of temporary housingByVincent Lali for GroundUp

Eight families from the Lansdowne Road informal settlement were to be moved to temporary structures on Saturday. But early on Friday morning 27 temporary units were ‘stolen’, and 13 were vandalised, according to the City. Additional security has since been deployed, and the City will rebuild the units.

Efforts to relocate Khayelitsha residents living in shacks above sewer pipes that are in need of urgent maintenance have been curbed.

Dozens of temporary structures erected by the City of Cape Town in Green Point, Khayelitsha, were destroyed or vandalised by residents last week before relocated families could move in on Saturday.

Families are being relocated from SST (in Town Two) and Lansdowne Road informal settlements, both of which are situated on top of a main sewer line that requires urgent maintenance.

Collapsed pipes in October, November, and December caused raw sewage to flood the streets in and around the settlements. Large sinkholes formed under some shacks, swallowing furniture and the shacks themselves. On Monday, sewage was still gushing from manholes in Lansdowne Road and Town Two.

Previous attempts two years ago to relocate families living above the sewage pipes were also blocked by residents.

Forty families in the SST settlement had already been relocated, but 33 families remained on site, the City said in a statement on Monday, 5 January 2026. Eight families from the Lansdowne Road informal settlement were to be moved to the temporary structures on Saturday.

But in the early hours of Friday morning, 27 temporary units were “stolen”, and 13 were vandalised, according to the City’s statement. Additional security has since been deployed, and the City will rebuild the units.

Mzikazi Twani, who moved from SST informal settlement to one of the temporary units in Green Point two weeks ago, said the incident left her traumatised.

“Fear kept us awake all night,” she said.

She says Green Point residents removed a fence on Thursday night and returned at 2am on Friday with crowbars and hammers to dismantle the temporary structures. Twani’s house was left alone, but residents told her they did not want her to stay there.

“When I tried to video them, they threatened to shoot me,” she said.