Armed police on Thursday forcibly removed more than 144 families occupying prefabricated houses in Delft, which were erected for victims of the Langa fire that saw the Joe Slovo informal settlement razed in 2005.
At 5.30am on Thursday more than 60 Metro Police descended on the settlement, which has informally become known as Siyahlala, and instructed the illegal residents to move their possessions.
About 20 Metro Police officers were to have stayed at the site overnight, and today the first set of Joe Slovo residents are supposed to move over to the site.
On Thursday shocked residents left standing outside among their furniture said the early morning raid had left them homeless and vulnerable.
A local Sanco member, who would only give her name as Nombuyiselo, said Delft residents who had been living in other people’s backyards had moved into the new houses because they had waited “too long” to get their own houses.
She said the DA had turned the housing crisis into a “political issue” and accused the mayor of not working with the people.
However, other furious residents were blaming the ANC-elected ward councillor, who was absent during the eviction, and the local Sanco committee.
Residents said they had paid money to the councillor and his committee to organise a lawyer to defend them, but they had been evicted anyway.
“How long must I still wait to get my own house? Who is going to give me a place to stay?” said disabled resident and mother of three, Nomphinda Mbabala.
Mbabala said she knew she was occupying the house illegally, but had lost patience with being on the housing list for years and could no longer afford rental.
Other residents were worried about where they would spend the night.
Cynthia Manjezi, a 35-year-old mother of three who is nine months’ pregnant, said she would wait and see what would happen after the evicted group were told they could sleep in a local community hall.
She said she had been a backyard dweller for 14 years and had been paying R300 for rent and R150 for electricity.
“There was no toilet and no water. I couldn’t pay. What else was I supposed to do?”
Manjezi’s husband, Wellington works in Epping but she is unemployed.
Cape Town housing chairman Dan Plato said the City had tried “many times” to prevent “those people” from moving into the houses, but they had occupied them in November 2005… Cape Argus
At 5.30am on Thursday more than 60 Metro Police descended on the settlement, which has informally become known as Siyahlala, and instructed the illegal residents to move their possessions.
About 20 Metro Police officers were to have stayed at the site overnight, and today the first set of Joe Slovo residents are supposed to move over to the site.
On Thursday shocked residents left standing outside among their furniture said the early morning raid had left them homeless and vulnerable.
A local Sanco member, who would only give her name as Nombuyiselo, said Delft residents who had been living in other people’s backyards had moved into the new houses because they had waited “too long” to get their own houses.
She said the DA had turned the housing crisis into a “political issue” and accused the mayor of not working with the people.
However, other furious residents were blaming the ANC-elected ward councillor, who was absent during the eviction, and the local Sanco committee.
Residents said they had paid money to the councillor and his committee to organise a lawyer to defend them, but they had been evicted anyway.
“How long must I still wait to get my own house? Who is going to give me a place to stay?” said disabled resident and mother of three, Nomphinda Mbabala.
Mbabala said she knew she was occupying the house illegally, but had lost patience with being on the housing list for years and could no longer afford rental.
Other residents were worried about where they would spend the night.
Cynthia Manjezi, a 35-year-old mother of three who is nine months’ pregnant, said she would wait and see what would happen after the evicted group were told they could sleep in a local community hall.
She said she had been a backyard dweller for 14 years and had been paying R300 for rent and R150 for electricity.
“There was no toilet and no water. I couldn’t pay. What else was I supposed to do?”
Manjezi’s husband, Wellington works in Epping but she is unemployed.
Cape Town housing chairman Dan Plato said the City had tried “many times” to prevent “those people” from moving into the houses, but they had occupied them in November 2005… Cape Argus
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