The Area Based Management team (ABM) and Ward 36 Councillor Heinz de Boer led Operation Gijima to the Briardene informal settlement, which recently suffered severe damage due to heavy rains. De Boer described the area as a “forgotten housing development” with numerous complaints about service delivery.
“The Briardene informal settlement has been hit extremely hard by the recent heavy rains, with a lot of erosion, some fences collapsed onto houses, and the road was completely destroyed,” De Boer explained. “Briardene seems to be a housing development that the city has completely forgotten about, and we are now trying to sort out as much as possible.”
De Boer outlined plans to address the issues, including fixing roads and stormwater drainage, disconnecting illegal water and electricity connections, and developing a long-term strategy. “We are going to work together with the Area Based Management team, members of the ward committee, and other community members to get the roads and stormwater sorted out,” he said.
Resident and Ward 36 committee member Innocentia Happiness Ntozakhe Mkhwanazi, 55, has lived in the Briardene informal settlement since 1999. She expressed frustration about the lack of service delivery and ignored reports. “The situation is bad due to very poor service delivery, and we are not happy. We’ve written different reports and requested a bridge, but we’ve been ignored,” she said.
Mkhwanazi added that the community lacks access to basic services, including a clinic. However, the visit from the ward councillor and the ABM team brought a glimmer of hope to the community. “The councillor and the team managed to witness the situation themselves, and it re-ignited a bit of hope for us,” she said.
