I arrived early in the morning to meet with the man from Afrimix, Tony would will be donating readymix concrete for our slab and to check on the progress of the removal of toilets and clearing of excrement using a honey-sucker organised by the community.
Tony seemed happy with the direction in which we are going and our plans for the casting of the slab .The toilets were not "destroyed completely" but I nevertheless dropped off letters and a rough construction programme with the community.
I then drove to meet Graham who has been kind enough to donate his time is welding together the steel panels for shading around the edges of the community centre. we discussed the details, gussets and time frames for delivery and agreed on a delivery date of Friday morning for the first panels.
I then returned to site to find no one and the toilets still not cleared. At this post I felt the most despondent with regards to community participation but waited for the community to discuss a day to day program. After which I was introduced to members of the community business forum who have offered us the use of three trucks, there staff and have a site where we can collect bricks.
Slovo Park at a Glance
Slovo Park is situated in a politically and socially sensitive stretch of land south of Soweto. The community has been known by national government as Nancefield, by local council as Olifantsvlei and in the last five years as Slovo Park – named in honour of South Africa’s first minister of housing and former Umkhonto we Sizwe General, Joe Slovo.
The forced changing of identity reflects an on-going struggle faced by the leadership of Slovo Park to gain recognition as a legitimate settlement to access governmental support. This battle has been fought through constant shifts in governmental policy, power and promises for the community of Slovo Park. Their only tactics comprising of service delivery protest, painstaking formal requests for upgrade and currently a lawsuit against the City of Johannesburg.
Currently the community of Slovo Park with its development partners are strategizing this key social and political move.
THIS SITE SERVES AS A PORTAL FOR THE COMMUNITY OF SLOVO PARK & THE VARIOUS DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS TO SHARE THE JOURNEY OF RE-DEVELOPMENT.
NEWSFEED
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