Squatter camp dwellers in Gugulethu have accused their ward councillor of evicting them from a community centre where they were sheltered after heavy rains flooded their shacks.
Most residents of Thambo Square squatter camp, who were sheltered in the Ikwezi community centre after their shacks were flooded in heavy rains two weeks ago, have returned home after claiming they were forcibly evicted from the centre.
The residents alleged that ward councillor Belinda Landingwe had forced them to go back to unhealthy conditions in their shacks.
When the Cape Argus visited the informal settlement on Friday, residents had gathered to ask local churches for shelter because they were worried about where they were going to go if it rained again.
On Saturday they all returned to their shacks and spent the rest of the weekend mopping up.
The residents claimed police had thrown them out of the centre, carrying the food and blankets they had received the day before.
Resident Thandiswa Mgwetyana said they were still shocked by the way their ward councillor had treated them.
Another resident, Venus Nogqala, said her grandson, Azola Baci, had had an operation because he had cancer.
"My grandson had a fit and doctors said it's because of the water," said Nogqala.
But Landingwe said that she had never thrown anyone out of the Ikwezi community centre.
She said there was an agreement that if the level of water in their shacks dropped they would go back and if it rained again they could return to the centre.
"We had an arrangement with them that I was going to go and check if there was still water in their shacks," she said.
The Anti-Eviction Campaign's provincial co-ordinator, Mncedisi Twalo, said the ward councillor had told him that she had thrown the people out of the hall because they were not affected by the floods.
- Cape Argus
Most residents of Thambo Square squatter camp, who were sheltered in the Ikwezi community centre after their shacks were flooded in heavy rains two weeks ago, have returned home after claiming they were forcibly evicted from the centre.
The residents alleged that ward councillor Belinda Landingwe had forced them to go back to unhealthy conditions in their shacks.
When the Cape Argus visited the informal settlement on Friday, residents had gathered to ask local churches for shelter because they were worried about where they were going to go if it rained again.
On Saturday they all returned to their shacks and spent the rest of the weekend mopping up.
The residents claimed police had thrown them out of the centre, carrying the food and blankets they had received the day before.
Resident Thandiswa Mgwetyana said they were still shocked by the way their ward councillor had treated them.
Another resident, Venus Nogqala, said her grandson, Azola Baci, had had an operation because he had cancer.
"My grandson had a fit and doctors said it's because of the water," said Nogqala.
But Landingwe said that she had never thrown anyone out of the Ikwezi community centre.
She said there was an agreement that if the level of water in their shacks dropped they would go back and if it rained again they could return to the centre.
"We had an arrangement with them that I was going to go and check if there was still water in their shacks," she said.
The Anti-Eviction Campaign's provincial co-ordinator, Mncedisi Twalo, said the ward councillor had told him that she had thrown the people out of the hall because they were not affected by the floods.
- Cape Argus
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