Ivory Park residents say they will skip vote over broken housing promise

Zolisile Sotsu, 63, is one of the 24 residents allocated stands. She said residents have lived at the site since 1993. She asked: "If we vote, what is it that we are voting for? For the rich to be richer while we continue to suffer over 30 years later?"

Resident Sibusiso Gebashe, 52, claimed the city sold the residents' stands to other people. He also said the city's housing offices failed residents with empty promises. Lydia Mazange said the site has no power and the chemical toilets are barely drained, which she called a smell and safety hazard.

The city's human settlements department said the community rejected a plan to move overflow families to Allandale or Rabie Ridge. It said the original approved layout was designed to yield 24 stands, but 70 families need housing. The department said its system may show the 24 as having benefited, because stands linked to ID numbers update automatically.

The city said talks with Eskom and the provincial human settlements department are under way to electrify the site. The provincial department said the City of Johannesburg is responsible for the project. Residents sent a petition in 2019 to the legislature, ANC Luthuli House, the human settlements department and the public protector.