About 170 pavement dwellers from Delft on the Cape Flats gathered outside the civic centre on Tuesday in an unsuccessful bid to hand over housing demands to mayor Helen Zille.
The group, who included a number of children and infants in arms, were evicted in February from homes meant for beneficiaries of the N2 Gateway project.
Since then they have been living on the pavement near the houses in Symphony Way, and have refused to move to an area nearby where the city council is providing wood and iron shacks with water and sanitation.
A spokesperson, Jerome Daniels, told Sapa they wanted to deliver their hand-written letters to Zille in person.
He said the letters demanded the resignation of the mayoral committee member for housing, Dan Plato.
"He's been elected in the mayor's office to deal with houses, but he's not providing houses, he's building structures.
"He's building new squatter camps, we call it dumping grounds. We don't want structures, we want houses."
Daniels said the letters also accused Zille of "playing a political game" in the squatters' hour of need.
"They are treating us like dogs, not human beings," he said.
Though most of the squatters were kept out of the civic centre by security guards, a delegation was allowed in to talk to the council's head of VIP security, Duane Paulsen.
Paulsen came out of the building to explain to the rest of the group that Zille was not there.
Though she was returning to her office briefly on Tuesday afternoon, she would then leave the country and be back on Sunday.
He said he could not commit to an appointment on her behalf, but promised to convey the group's request for a meeting to her office.
"I can't promise anything, not before I have spoken to her, to her office," he said.
"We're not going to give our letters to a personal bodyguard or whatever. We want to do it personally," said one of the representatives, Jean Roberts.
"I am disappointed, because we came here, and the mayor is just suddenly for some reason not here."
She said members of the group had made the trip to the city centre by train.
Daniels said the mayor's office had not been notified in advance that the group would be coming. - Sapa
The group, who included a number of children and infants in arms, were evicted in February from homes meant for beneficiaries of the N2 Gateway project.
Since then they have been living on the pavement near the houses in Symphony Way, and have refused to move to an area nearby where the city council is providing wood and iron shacks with water and sanitation.
A spokesperson, Jerome Daniels, told Sapa they wanted to deliver their hand-written letters to Zille in person.
| 'I can't promise anything, not before I have spoken to her' |
"He's been elected in the mayor's office to deal with houses, but he's not providing houses, he's building structures.
"He's building new squatter camps, we call it dumping grounds. We don't want structures, we want houses."
Daniels said the letters also accused Zille of "playing a political game" in the squatters' hour of need.
"They are treating us like dogs, not human beings," he said.
Though most of the squatters were kept out of the civic centre by security guards, a delegation was allowed in to talk to the council's head of VIP security, Duane Paulsen.
Paulsen came out of the building to explain to the rest of the group that Zille was not there.
Though she was returning to her office briefly on Tuesday afternoon, she would then leave the country and be back on Sunday.
He said he could not commit to an appointment on her behalf, but promised to convey the group's request for a meeting to her office.
"I can't promise anything, not before I have spoken to her, to her office," he said.
"We're not going to give our letters to a personal bodyguard or whatever. We want to do it personally," said one of the representatives, Jean Roberts.
"I am disappointed, because we came here, and the mayor is just suddenly for some reason not here."
She said members of the group had made the trip to the city centre by train.
Daniels said the mayor's office had not been notified in advance that the group would be coming. - Sapa
1 comment:
If you can't feed them, you should not breed them, I hope this winter brings a lesson that the poor will never forget.........I pray for cold and rain like we have NEVER seen, it must make what happened in Burma look like a summer picnic accident......
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