More than 100 backyard dwellers from various townships slept in the open on a patch of private land in Philippi for the past two nights after the illegal structure they had built was demolished by law enforcement officials for the fourth time.
The land is situated off Stock Road between the R300 and the Joe Gqabi railway station.
The people, who hail from Gugulethu, Philippi and Khayelitsha, among other areas, claim they are entitled to the land because they paid for it by way of a beneficiary trust that was established in 1999.
Margret Gacula, who was a backyard dweller in Gugulethu, said the 853 members of the Vusintshutsha Beneficiary Trust had paid between R25 and R30 a week between 1999 and 2001 into a savings account and that uTshani Fund had bought the land on behalf of the trust in 2002.
"I want to know where the houses are that uTshani said they would build for us with the money we paid them," said Gacula.
Patrick Maghebula, the president of the national Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor, said uTshani had bought the plot on behalf of the SA Homeless People's Federation, which he said had defrauded its members.
"After the land was purchased, the leadership of the SAHPF told its members that uTshani no longer existed and that the transaction had fallen through," said Maghebula.
Patricia Matolengwe, a director of the SAHPF, said she was not prepared to respond to the allegations against the organisation.
"We will only talk to them through our lawyers," she said.
Steve Hayward, the head of Housing and Anti Land Invasion for the City of Cape Town, said there was a deed of sale proving that the land had been bought by the uTshani Fund but uTshani had told the City that nobody was authorised to occupy the land.
"We have been watching the site carefully," he said. "By law nobody can erect any structure, be it in Constantia or in this case in Philippi, without submitting the necessary building plans."
- Cape Argus
The land is situated off Stock Road between the R300 and the Joe Gqabi railway station.
The people, who hail from Gugulethu, Philippi and Khayelitsha, among other areas, claim they are entitled to the land because they paid for it by way of a beneficiary trust that was established in 1999.
Margret Gacula, who was a backyard dweller in Gugulethu, said the 853 members of the Vusintshutsha Beneficiary Trust had paid between R25 and R30 a week between 1999 and 2001 into a savings account and that uTshani Fund had bought the land on behalf of the trust in 2002.
"I want to know where the houses are that uTshani said they would build for us with the money we paid them," said Gacula.
Patrick Maghebula, the president of the national Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor, said uTshani had bought the plot on behalf of the SA Homeless People's Federation, which he said had defrauded its members.
"After the land was purchased, the leadership of the SAHPF told its members that uTshani no longer existed and that the transaction had fallen through," said Maghebula.
Patricia Matolengwe, a director of the SAHPF, said she was not prepared to respond to the allegations against the organisation.
"We will only talk to them through our lawyers," she said.
Steve Hayward, the head of Housing and Anti Land Invasion for the City of Cape Town, said there was a deed of sale proving that the land had been bought by the uTshani Fund but uTshani had told the City that nobody was authorised to occupy the land.
"We have been watching the site carefully," he said. "By law nobody can erect any structure, be it in Constantia or in this case in Philippi, without submitting the necessary building plans."
- Cape Argus
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