Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The Cape of demolitions

Police will today monitor Nomzamo, an informal settlement in Strand, Cape Town, following two days of violent clashes with residents.

The violence broke out on Monday after residents were evicted from the area and had their homes demolished.

The homes were built illegally on land owned by the SA National Roads Agency Limited.

The land, Sanral says, was meant for the rerouting of the N2. In January, Sanral got an interdict to have the residents removed.

More than 100 people were evicted. They are being housed in community facilities that were made available by the City of Cape Town.

But violence flared up again yesterday . Police spokesman Andre Traut said petrol bombs were hurled and three people were arrested on charges of public violence.

Seven people were also arrested for a similar offence on Monday. They are expected to appear in the Strand Magistrate's Court today.

Traut said police would monitor the area for further violence.

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille tweeted on Monday night that she had not been informed beforehand about the evictions.

She said the city had been negotiating with Sanral to buy and upgrade the land. But after the city "said no to e-tolls", Sanral backed out and evicted the residents.

But Sanral said the city had prevented it from acquiring another piece of land where the residents would be moved to.

"They used the issue of toll roads in Western Cape as an excuse to terminate discussion on the issue," Sanral spokesman Vusi Mona said.
The ANC said Nomzamo residents were evicted as a punishment for not voting for the party in last month's elections.
In Gauteng, a partnership between traffic police and Sanral is being seen as a bullying tactic to force motorists to pay their e-toll bills.

Yesterday along the province's highways, members of the Gauteng Traffic Police and Sanral trucks set up roadblocks on roads leading onto highways.

On Twitter, motorists assumed it was Sanral forcing highway users to pay their toll fees.

But the exercise, according to Gauteng Traffic Police and Sanral, was to find false registration plates and stolen vehicles.

"This had nothing to do with e-tolls," said the Gauteng Traffic Police spokesman Obed Sibasa. "Sanral has advanced technology, which we were using."

The Sanral trucks, he said, had specialised identification cameras. The cameras, he said, were linked to a database that can spot faulty licence plates or vehicles that could have been stolen.

But Outa felt the roadblocks had a different motive. "They are using spook methods to intimidate people into buying e-toll tags," said its spokesman, John Clarke.

No comments: