Our Building Blitz in 2007 took place in Freedom Park. This beautifully named township is near Tafelsig in Mitchell’s Plain, around 40 kms from the city of Cape Town. The charity has promised to build 493 homes for the coloured community who live here. In the Blitz week, 1,350 volunteers completed a staggering 203 houses in just one week.
Mitchell’s Plain was created as a township in 1975 during Apartheid. Tafelsig, the suburb where Freedom Park is situated, is on the southeastern edge of Mitchell’s Plain and has a population of around 50,000. It is a desperately poor area, with unemployment of at least 40% and a host of social problems.
Freedom Park got its name as a result of a land occupation, which began on Freedom Day – the 27 th of April 1998. Frustrated by their dire living conditions and lack of progress in sourcing land for housing, back-yard shack dwellers from the area occupied the land, even though it has no basic services such as water or sewage. They built shacks on the area known locally as “The Field”. Only those families who were on the City’s waiting list for houses erected shacks in an effort to legitimize their claim for the land to be used for housing. A high profile row with authorities ensued, but ultimately it led to the intervention of then President Nelson Mandela and agreement was reached.
Construction began just after Easter 2007 in Freedom Park. Half of the almost 500 beneficiaries will come from the Freedom Park area and the balance will come from the City of Cape Town's waiting list. The soon to be home owners will have a range of house types to choose from, including terraced, semi-detached and stand alone homes. The NMTT has also promised to build a crèche for the community here.