Evicted Lapland residents return to flood plain area

[caption id="attachment_66950" align="alignright" width="300"] - UNDER COVER: Diego Jacobs, 8, and his sister Angel,[/caption]

Evicted residents of Tiryville – also known as Lapland – in Uitenhage who have moved back to the flood plain area they used to occupy, have been told they will be resettled on other vacant land.

The families now living in what is called Old Lapland – whose Lapland shacks were demolished last week – have been struggling in makeshift structures, some of which are made from cardboard boxes, and also battled with pouring rain earlier in the week.

There are already about 100 shacks built in Old Lapland but Ward 45 councillor Monde Vaaltyn said the residents were not supposed to build their shacks there.

Residents said it was the only place they could build shacks because they had nowhere else to go.

Earlier this week, men and women – some of whom had been housed in a creche in the area – were busy building their new homes.

-Yoliswa Sobuwa