Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has threatened residents of Joe Slovo in Langa with forced removal to Delft following violent protests that have closed the N2 for hours and clashes with police in which several people have been injured.
"Until now, no attempts have been made to force residents of the informal settlement at Joe Slovo to move," Sisulu said in a statement.
"We are now convinced that to protect property constructed at Joe Slovo - and to ensure the integrity of the development process - we have to seek legal intervention."
On Monday, a showhouse under construction on the Gateway site was damaged and an estimated 2 000 protesters clashed with police beside the N2.
They had begun protesting just after 4am against their imminent removal to Delft to make way for the development of homes at the N2 Gateway project adjacent to Joe Slovo.
Within hours, seven protesters had been arrested and several others injured by police rubber bullets.
Sisulu said on Monday if Joe Slovo residents did not co-operate, their names would be removed from all housing waiting lists.
In Tuesday's statement, she said she had instructed her department to look at "legal solutions" to clearing the land.
"Precisely because the N2 Gateway is a pilot project, we have bent over backwards to ensure we accommodate the challenges and problems we encounter at every step."
At a press conference on Tuesday, the director-general of housing, Itumeleng Kotsoane, echoed Sisulu's threats.
He said the department had been "engaging" the Joe Slovo community for almost three years.
"We've been discussing with them the project and its significance," said Kotsoane.
One of the issues had been the overpopulation of Joe Slovo, where 6 000 people had put up shacks before the devastating fire in January 2005.
According to Kotsoane, the area would accommodate only 1 000 people once the three phases of the N2 Gateway project had been completed.
"What happened (on Monday) was uncalled for and unwarranted."
The government had bent over backwards to accommodate Joe Slovo residents.
Kotsoane said: "We've exhausted every possible way and there are those stirring violence."
Prince Xhanti Sigcawu, the general manager of Thube-lisha, the company in charge of the Gateway project, told the press conference that the Joe Slovo Task Team, which had organised Monday's protest, was "unreasonable".
"They claim the cleared land is their area, but that land was vacated by people who have been moved to temporary residential areas," said Sigcawu.
On Monday, residents demanded that RDP homes be built on a vacant site earmarked for "gap housing" priced at between R150 000 and R250 000.
Leaders of the protest had also demanded that Sisulu address them.
But instead she threatened them first with removal from the housing waiting list, and then on Tuesday with forced removal.
"There's no intention to make them homeless," said Kotsoane.
"The minister won't go there to say that they won't be removed."
Kotsoane claimed those remaining in Joe Slovo were victims of intimidation by groups opposed to the moves.
Mzwanele Zulu, spokesperson for the Joe Slovo Task Team, said residents would not hesitate to take the government to court if threatened with forcible removal.
"I don't see any difference between the apartheid government and this government. They are autocratic."
Cosatu's Western Cape secretary-general, Tony Ehrenreich, said: "What concerns me is that whenever there's talk of moves, they want to move people to Delft. There's government-owned land in places like Constantia. What I find ridiculous is that they say they will take people off the waiting list. The waiting list is a joke."
Kotsoane said the temporary homes in Delft were made of fibre cement, not asbestos as some protesters had claimed.
The department and Thubelisha were experiencing problems only at the Joe Slovo site, he said.
- Cape Times
"Until now, no attempts have been made to force residents of the informal settlement at Joe Slovo to move," Sisulu said in a statement.
"We are now convinced that to protect property constructed at Joe Slovo - and to ensure the integrity of the development process - we have to seek legal intervention."
On Monday, a showhouse under construction on the Gateway site was damaged and an estimated 2 000 protesters clashed with police beside the N2.
| 'The waiting list is a joke' |
Within hours, seven protesters had been arrested and several others injured by police rubber bullets.
Sisulu said on Monday if Joe Slovo residents did not co-operate, their names would be removed from all housing waiting lists.
In Tuesday's statement, she said she had instructed her department to look at "legal solutions" to clearing the land.
"Precisely because the N2 Gateway is a pilot project, we have bent over backwards to ensure we accommodate the challenges and problems we encounter at every step."
| The temporary homes in Delft were made of fibre cement |
He said the department had been "engaging" the Joe Slovo community for almost three years.
"We've been discussing with them the project and its significance," said Kotsoane.
One of the issues had been the overpopulation of Joe Slovo, where 6 000 people had put up shacks before the devastating fire in January 2005.
According to Kotsoane, the area would accommodate only 1 000 people once the three phases of the N2 Gateway project had been completed.
"What happened (on Monday) was uncalled for and unwarranted."
The government had bent over backwards to accommodate Joe Slovo residents.
Kotsoane said: "We've exhausted every possible way and there are those stirring violence."
Prince Xhanti Sigcawu, the general manager of Thube-lisha, the company in charge of the Gateway project, told the press conference that the Joe Slovo Task Team, which had organised Monday's protest, was "unreasonable".
"They claim the cleared land is their area, but that land was vacated by people who have been moved to temporary residential areas," said Sigcawu.
On Monday, residents demanded that RDP homes be built on a vacant site earmarked for "gap housing" priced at between R150 000 and R250 000.
Leaders of the protest had also demanded that Sisulu address them.
But instead she threatened them first with removal from the housing waiting list, and then on Tuesday with forced removal.
"There's no intention to make them homeless," said Kotsoane.
"The minister won't go there to say that they won't be removed."
Kotsoane claimed those remaining in Joe Slovo were victims of intimidation by groups opposed to the moves.
Mzwanele Zulu, spokesperson for the Joe Slovo Task Team, said residents would not hesitate to take the government to court if threatened with forcible removal.
"I don't see any difference between the apartheid government and this government. They are autocratic."
Cosatu's Western Cape secretary-general, Tony Ehrenreich, said: "What concerns me is that whenever there's talk of moves, they want to move people to Delft. There's government-owned land in places like Constantia. What I find ridiculous is that they say they will take people off the waiting list. The waiting list is a joke."
Kotsoane said the temporary homes in Delft were made of fibre cement, not asbestos as some protesters had claimed.
The department and Thubelisha were experiencing problems only at the Joe Slovo site, he said.
- Cape Times
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