​These are not the first murders related to the R90 million project which aims to improve the lives of the community. The first phase of the project includes the construction of roads, stormwater and sewer networks, electricity infrastructure and a safer and secure space for vulnerable residents to call their own. While colleagues, friends and family are still struggling to come to terms with the deaths, we honour all who have been murdered while the project work carried on, including:

• 11 November 2018: two security guards shot dead
• 1 April 2019: construction worker shot dead
• 27 May 2019: eight community members shot dead
• 3 September 2019: law enforcement officers Jan Nieuwenhuys (49) and Simtembile Nyangiwe (43) shot dead while protecting contract workers to complete services on the site

We remember six of the eight-member Sweet Homes Project Steering Committee who were murdered during the course of this first phase of the project.

Pages on pages of incident reports record murder; repeated theft; the unrelenting attack and stabbing of security guards (including their patrol dogs). It has been a horror project but the completion of its first phase is testament to the resilience of City staff, of our contractors and of our communities.

We have pushed forward after every murder in honour of the victims and to enhance service delivery.

The first phase of the project, which has almost been completed at a cost of R60 million, started in 2017 and is nearing completion, but the true cost has been heartbreakingly high, especially for the community.

The City’s Informal Settlements Department and its contractors have kept going, inspired by the desire to improve the living conditions of this community who are faced with so many challenges every day.

Residents can give anonymous tip offs if they are aware of illegal activity that is taking place; that has happened or is still to happen. Please also call 112 from a cell phone (toll free) and 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 for life and property threatening emergencies. We must never allow criminals to decide who gets services and who doesn’t.

As a City we often get criticised for project delays or community programmes that are not going according to plan. We then respond saying it is due to factors outside of our control. This first phase of the Sweet Homes project has been a particularly violent and volatile one and it shows exactly what we are up against. There are many projects across the metro that are plagued by vandalism, theft, violence and criminality, gangsterism and community unrest and interference, but we don’t abandon them, we carry on in solidarity with our vulnerable communities.

We will never give up on our efforts to improve the lives of our people.

We call on communities across Cape Town to support us, to partner with us and to ensure that we make progress possible through our shared desire for transformation and the unwavering vision of creating a better Cape Town, especially for the communities who are living in the most volatile areas.

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