Dreaded bulldozers flatten Soweto slum

By STEVE MKAWALE

Government bulldozers descended on mud and iron sheet built houses in Nairobi’s Kibera slum leaving hundreds of people homeless.

The demolitions sanctioned by the State to pave way for second phase of the slum-upgrading project caught many residents of Soweto unawares.

Slum dwellers struggled to salvage their household goods as the roaring bulldozer flattened structures that were once their homes.

At one point they vented their anger on a group of youth attempting to steal what they had salvaged.

A man who was caught stealing electronic goods was badly injured when an angry mob descended on him.

They set upon them with all manner of crude weapons, as police in riot gear frantically moved in to quell the skirmishes.

A contingent of armed administration and regular officers rescued a number of suspects from the irate mob and took the injured to hospital.

A resident, Mr Peter Maina, told The Standard that no notice was issued and that they were surprised to see a bulldozer pulling down their homes.

"We have a chief here but he never told the people what to expect. This is wrong, we should have been served with a notice," Maina said.

He said about 10,000 people were affected by the demolition and wondered where the Government expected them to go.

Ms Jane Ndoria, a mother of three, said she had no idea where her family would spend the night.

"They came abruptly and started knocking down homes. I rushed to rescue my children. I could not salvage anything from the house," she said.

No notice issued

A senior Provincial Administration officer who was supervising the demolition referred our reporter to the Ministry of Housing and Settlement for comment.

Kibera is one of 100 slums in Nairobi earmarked for upgrading under the ongoing US$300,000 Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme mooted in 2000.

The plan was to offer decent housing to 600 families from Soweto East.

The first group of tenants has already occupied the flats about a kilometre from Kibera where they pay a monthly rent of Sh500 and an additional Sh300 for electricity and Sh200 for water.

It has emerged that those whose houses were demolished had occupied space left by those who moved to the flats.