A Khayelitsha woman who was one of the 1982 St George's Cathedral squatters who fasted for 24 days over their lack of housing, still does not have a house.
Twenty-six years on, Kate Ncisana, 63, is living alone in a shack in Site C, Khayelitsha, where she has raised two children and she's not impressed with the government.
"To have a home is not a privilege at all, this is a right.
"Years ago we thought we'd have houses by now," she said.
The mother of two said both her children had married and started their own families while she was waiting for a house, which was promised by the previous government in 1982.
Ncisana says her children had yet to enjoy the comfort of having a real home.
Ncisana's story was featured in the Cape Argus on April 2, 1982, when she and 53 others broke their 24-day fast to force permission for them to stay in the Western Cape and to receive suitable housing.
The families, initially from the Eastern Cape, had moved to Cape Town to live with their husbands and male relatives who were construction workers and living in hostels.
At the time, "influx control" did not allow black people to move easily around South Africa.
"We were not allowed to live in the hostels with our husbands and we were kicked out time and time again," Ncisana recalled.
They were eventually forced to leave Saint George's Cathedral and obtained permission to squat at the Holy Cross Church in Nyanga.
Two years later the families eventually moved in 1985 on to very small plots in Khayelitsha.
- Cape Argus
Twenty-six years on, Kate Ncisana, 63, is living alone in a shack in Site C, Khayelitsha, where she has raised two children and she's not impressed with the government.
"To have a home is not a privilege at all, this is a right.
| 'To have a home is not a privilege at all, this is a right' |
The mother of two said both her children had married and started their own families while she was waiting for a house, which was promised by the previous government in 1982.
Ncisana says her children had yet to enjoy the comfort of having a real home.
Ncisana's story was featured in the Cape Argus on April 2, 1982, when she and 53 others broke their 24-day fast to force permission for them to stay in the Western Cape and to receive suitable housing.
The families, initially from the Eastern Cape, had moved to Cape Town to live with their husbands and male relatives who were construction workers and living in hostels.
At the time, "influx control" did not allow black people to move easily around South Africa.
"We were not allowed to live in the hostels with our husbands and we were kicked out time and time again," Ncisana recalled.
They were eventually forced to leave Saint George's Cathedral and obtained permission to squat at the Holy Cross Church in Nyanga.
Two years later the families eventually moved in 1985 on to very small plots in Khayelitsha.
- Cape Argus
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