Angry residents barricaded Eisleben Road in Nyanga with burning tyres and portable toilets on Friday during a protest against what they called their ward councillor's "unfair" allocation of serviced plots.
The protesters complained that Councillor Elese Depouch had offered 21 serviced housing plots in a new housing development to backyard dwellers from nearby White City instead of them.
They also claimed that Depouch would not negotiate with them because they were DA supporters.
More than 50 residents set fire to the barricade of tyres, stinking portable toilets and rubbish that had been erected across the road near the old Nyanga Home Affairs offices, blocking off the street.
The police were called in to control the situation.
The protesters said they would embark on mass action to disrupt council services and make the area ungovernable if they did not get the plots back. They demanded an urgent meeting with the Cape Town housing portfolio committee because Depouch had "failed to co-operate" when he was approached.
Traffic was disrupted for five hours.
Residents at Black City informal settlement, established in 1985, were recently given new RDP houses by the provincial MEC for housing Whitey Jacobs.
Depouch said that at a recent public meeting Black City residents had agreed to share the land with White City residents, but the Black City residents later reneged on the agreement.
Depouch said authorities required that each housing development allocate 30 percent of the sites to backyarders but the residents had walked out of another meeting with him and protested when they heard that backyarders would get sites in the development.
He appealed to residents to consult with their leaders instead of embarking on disruptive and potentially dangerous actions.
Thandi Sopili, who has lived in the Black City area for more than 20 years, said that Depouch practised "favouritism" and had told them that they were drunk when they confronted him about the plots.
"Those plots belong to us, but our community leader tells us that he cannot listen to people who are being fed with Democratic Alliance food parcels."
Thobela Mqombothi complained that Depouch "fooled around" with them.
"Depouch insults us by saying that we are Democratic Alliance followers who are being used by white people to disrupt peace in the area," said Mqombothi.
But Simpiwe Ngece, of the White City Section backyarders, said people who were crammed into shacks in backyards deserved to be accommodated in the new housing development in the area.
Ngece said they expected the authorities to allocate the plots on a 50/50 basis and it was unfair for the Black City residents to sideline them from the developed land.
He appealed to Jacobs to intervene in the matter before it led to bloodshed.
- Cape Argus
The protesters complained that Councillor Elese Depouch had offered 21 serviced housing plots in a new housing development to backyard dwellers from nearby White City instead of them.
They also claimed that Depouch would not negotiate with them because they were DA supporters.
More than 50 residents set fire to the barricade of tyres, stinking portable toilets and rubbish that had been erected across the road near the old Nyanga Home Affairs offices, blocking off the street.
The police were called in to control the situation.
The protesters said they would embark on mass action to disrupt council services and make the area ungovernable if they did not get the plots back. They demanded an urgent meeting with the Cape Town housing portfolio committee because Depouch had "failed to co-operate" when he was approached.
Traffic was disrupted for five hours.
Residents at Black City informal settlement, established in 1985, were recently given new RDP houses by the provincial MEC for housing Whitey Jacobs.
Depouch said that at a recent public meeting Black City residents had agreed to share the land with White City residents, but the Black City residents later reneged on the agreement.
Depouch said authorities required that each housing development allocate 30 percent of the sites to backyarders but the residents had walked out of another meeting with him and protested when they heard that backyarders would get sites in the development.
He appealed to residents to consult with their leaders instead of embarking on disruptive and potentially dangerous actions.
Thandi Sopili, who has lived in the Black City area for more than 20 years, said that Depouch practised "favouritism" and had told them that they were drunk when they confronted him about the plots.
"Those plots belong to us, but our community leader tells us that he cannot listen to people who are being fed with Democratic Alliance food parcels."
Thobela Mqombothi complained that Depouch "fooled around" with them.
"Depouch insults us by saying that we are Democratic Alliance followers who are being used by white people to disrupt peace in the area," said Mqombothi.
But Simpiwe Ngece, of the White City Section backyarders, said people who were crammed into shacks in backyards deserved to be accommodated in the new housing development in the area.
Ngece said they expected the authorities to allocate the plots on a 50/50 basis and it was unfair for the Black City residents to sideline them from the developed land.
He appealed to Jacobs to intervene in the matter before it led to bloodshed.
- Cape Argus
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