Since its inception, the Brickvale housing project, which has ballooned to cost R1-billion, has been fraught with controversy. The 6,480-unit development is now apparently back on track after years of delays. But about 100 families — of whom 60 have lived on the old Brickvale farm for dozens of years — are refusing to move.on Monday that some units would be handed over in December and the project would be finalised in three years.
The controversial and long-delayed Brickvale housing development is meant to create over 6,000 homes on the West Rand’s Mogale City, Gauteng. Kenny Marope, 87, said he has been living on the farm since February 1962, when he earned R2.50 a month making bricks. It was enough, he says, to buy food and clothes.
“The government should just build me a house where l am, so that I can continue living as before. It was not my husband’s wish for us to be moved because he worked for this land,” says Medupi. The families say they have received no written notices or court orders, but they are being harassed and verbally threatened with eviction. They have turned to Lawyers for Human Rights for help.