The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) and the Housing Development Agency (HDA) in the Western Cape said they will temporarily relocate more than 5,000 households in Langa township outside Cape Town in an attempt to recover the central railway line surrounded by shacks by the end of May.

HDA manager ,Ndumiso Mkhwanazi, said the railway central line has never resumed operations since it was halted during lockdown in 2021. He said various stakeholders including PRASA met to discuss how they can move the dwellers without chaos. "The rail agency met with various stakeholders involved in the project to recover the railway line. The central line has not been operating for four years due to vandalism and theft and the illegal occupation of land near the line during lockdown." Mkhwanazi said.

Mkhwanazi said more than 1,250 households in Langa township had so far been moved off the central line. "The agency, which was helping PRASA to relocate the illegal dwellers, was on track to move close to 4,000 more households to temporary housing structures in Philippi and Khayelitsha before the end of May. A timeline for the permanent relocation of all the occupants was now in place,"he said. Mkhwanazi said government indicated that funds for the land development would be made available within the next two months.