THOUSANDS of Joe Slovo residents have vowed to resist being evicted from the informal settlement after the Cape High Court ordered that they vacate the land intended for the N2 Gateway housing project.
Cape Judge President John Hlophe said that the residents had a constitutional right to adequate housing. But he stressed that they did not have a right to a locality of their choice.
Hlophe said the temporary accommodation the government had provided for them in Delft was "far better" than the shacks they lived in..
Once the Langa houses intended for them have been completed, they will be able to move back into better quality homes "and a community where overcrowding is a thing of the past, where fire dangers are much less, where proper water facilities are led to the houses, sewerage facilities are in place and where floods could leave lesser damage if any at all after the soil has been rehabilitated and stronger, more steady houses have been built"...
And at a community meeting in Joe Slovo last night, about 500 residents gathered on an open plot of land to hear representatives from the Joe Slovo Task Team and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign speak about the court's ruling.
They sang and danced, chanting "Down with (housing minister) Lindiwe Sisulu" and "Down with Hlophe".
Uniformed police were not at the meeting, though a lone armoured Casspir was parked near the N2 Gateway construction site.
Mzwanele Zulu, spokesperson for the Joe Slovo Task Team, promised that the community would take the case as far as the Constitutional Court to fight being evicted from the area.
Zulu said the order endorsed "the bureaucratic madness" of removing people to Delft who did not want to be there. The judgment follows an application by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, housing agents Thubelisha Homes and local government and housing MEC Richard Dyantyi to evict the 20,000 residents from the land next to the N2 to make way for the next phase of the N2 Gateway Project.
However, he said the removal of the residents would not render them homeless, assuring them that the move was for their benefit...
He also directed the government and Thubelisha Homes to file affidavits with the court every eight weeks to report back on the implementation of the order.
He gave the sheriff the authority to eject the residents.
On September 10, last year members of the Joe Slovo community barricaded the N2 highway to protest their removal to Delft when they did not succeed in their negotiations with the national Housing Department and Thubelisha Homes.
- Full Article Cape Times
Cape Judge President John Hlophe said that the residents had a constitutional right to adequate housing. But he stressed that they did not have a right to a locality of their choice.
Hlophe said the temporary accommodation the government had provided for them in Delft was "far better" than the shacks they lived in..
Once the Langa houses intended for them have been completed, they will be able to move back into better quality homes "and a community where overcrowding is a thing of the past, where fire dangers are much less, where proper water facilities are led to the houses, sewerage facilities are in place and where floods could leave lesser damage if any at all after the soil has been rehabilitated and stronger, more steady houses have been built"...
And at a community meeting in Joe Slovo last night, about 500 residents gathered on an open plot of land to hear representatives from the Joe Slovo Task Team and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign speak about the court's ruling.
They sang and danced, chanting "Down with (housing minister) Lindiwe Sisulu" and "Down with Hlophe".
Uniformed police were not at the meeting, though a lone armoured Casspir was parked near the N2 Gateway construction site.
Mzwanele Zulu, spokesperson for the Joe Slovo Task Team, promised that the community would take the case as far as the Constitutional Court to fight being evicted from the area.
Zulu said: "By this order, Hlophe and the others have declared war on the people of Joe Slovo and must take responsibility for the consequences."
Zulu said the order endorsed "the bureaucratic madness" of removing people to Delft who did not want to be there. The judgment follows an application by Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, housing agents Thubelisha Homes and local government and housing MEC Richard Dyantyi to evict the 20,000 residents from the land next to the N2 to make way for the next phase of the N2 Gateway Project.
Judge Hlophe said the court was aware of the housing crisis in South Africa and could not turn a blind eye to it.
However, he said the removal of the residents would not render them homeless, assuring them that the move was for their benefit...
Judge Hlophe also commented on the submission that the residents had a legitimate expectation that the houses to be developed at Joe Slovo, or at least 70% of them, would be available to them.
But he said that there was no merit in this argument and that unlawful conduct could not give rise to a legitimate expectation. Judge Hlophe ordered the residents to vacate the area in accordance with a schedule, which starts on March 17 and ends on January 19, 2009.
He gave the sheriff the authority to eject the residents.
On September 10, last year members of the Joe Slovo community barricaded the N2 highway to protest their removal to Delft when they did not succeed in their negotiations with the national Housing Department and Thubelisha Homes.
- Full Article Cape Times
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Clarification: The Western Cape Anti Eviction Campaign wishes to place on record that the statement quoted as above and issued earlier today was issued by the WCAEC and not by Mzwanele Zulu, the Joe Slovo task team or any other Joe Slovo settlement structure. In particular the WC AEC apologises to Mzwanele Zulu for any implication that he had anything to do with this statement, since he did not.
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