The national department of housing has filed an application notice asking the Cape High Court for permission to relocate to Delft about 4,500 people living in the Joe Slovo informal settlement near Langa.About two weeks ago, the residents blockaded the N2 freeway in protest against their imminent relocation. Presiding judge president John Hlope has ruled that the department's notice is an order of court.
The company that manages the N2 Gateway project, Thubelitsha Homes, wants to build bond and rental houses on the land. It wants the Joe Slovo residents in Zone 30 and 31 to be relocated temporarily to Delft in order for the construction to go ahead. The department’s senior counsel, Steve Kirk-Cohen, argued in court that the houses in Delft were a step up from the Joe Slovo shacks, with water and electricity.
Housing department director-general Itumeleng Kotsoane says their application for the relocation is the last resort following three years of unsuccessful consultations with the community.
Slow progress
"We have made many consultations with the community over the last two years on the rolling out of the N2 pilot project. Every time we meet, we think we have made progress - only to find out that we have not made any… we think that now this is an opportunity for us to come to court and ask for court intervention," says Kotsoane.
Joe Slovo informal dwellers' leader, Mzwanele Zulu, says they will wait for the notice and are definitely ready to resist and oppose the notice. He says the law will have an opportunity to prove whether it is on the side of the poor or on that of the rich people.
The matter will be heard next week Wednesday. - SABC
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