Angry residents barricaded Eisleben Road in Nyanga with burning tyres and temporary toilet structures during a protest against what they called unfair allocation of housing plots by their ward councillor.
The Black City community complained that the local Councillor Elese Depouch offered 21 serviced site housing plots which belonged to them to backyard dwellers from the nearby White City Section.
More than 50 residents who included teenagers set fire to the barricade of tyres, rubbish and overturned stinking temporal toilets structures erected across the road to block Eisleben Road near the old Nyanga Home Affairs offices on Friday.
Waving placards that demanded the plots back and defying the ward councillor while also chanting toyi-toyi songs to express their plight, the group caused disruption of traffic road for more than five hours.
They threatened to embark on a big mass action to disrupt council services and make the area ungovernable if they did not get the plots back and demanded an urgent meeting with the Cape Town housing portfolio committee as their community leader (Councillor Depouch) failed to co-operate with them when he was approached.
A large contingent of police were called to control the situation and calm down residents who threatened to express more of their anger to the councillor when he walks out of the offices which are currently being used by the council.
The Black City informal settlement established in 1985 had newly built RDP houses recently handed over to residents by the Provincial MEC for Housing, Whitey Jacobs.
Thandi Sopili who lived in the area for more than 20 years alleged that the Depouch practised favouritism and he 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 the Democratic Alliance (DA) food parcels
Thobela Mqombothi complained that Depouch fooled around with them.
“Depouch uses us to campaign for the election and brings White City backyarders to Black City.
“He insults us that we are Democratic Alliance followers who are being used by white people to disrupt peace in the area,” said Mqombothi.
Simpiwe Ngece one 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 says the MEC Jacobs even explained that the development was meant for the Black and White City residents.
A huge signage board in the area also bears the name of the Black and White City housing development.
Ngece said they expected the authorities to allocate the plots on 50/50 basis and it was unfair for the Black City residents to sideline them from the developed land.
He appealed to the provincial MEC for housing to intervene in the matter soon, as it will lead to bloodshed if Black City residents refused them a right to get their own plots.
Elese Depouch said at a recent public meeting Black City residents had reached an agreement to share the land with White City residents but have turned against the agreement.
Depouch said the authorities required that each housing development allocate 30% of the sites to backyarders.
However, residents 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 that could lead to disruption of services and arrests.
- City Vision
The Black City community complained that the local Councillor Elese Depouch offered 21 serviced site housing plots which belonged to them to backyard dwellers from the nearby White City Section.
More than 50 residents who included teenagers set fire to the barricade of tyres, rubbish and overturned stinking temporal toilets structures erected across the road to block Eisleben Road near the old Nyanga Home Affairs offices on Friday.
Waving placards that demanded the plots back and defying the ward councillor while also chanting toyi-toyi songs to express their plight, the group caused disruption of traffic road for more than five hours.
They threatened to embark on a big mass action to disrupt council services and make the area ungovernable if they did not get the plots back and demanded an urgent meeting with the Cape Town housing portfolio committee as their community leader (Councillor Depouch) failed to co-operate with them when he was approached.
A large contingent of police were called to control the situation and calm down residents who threatened to express more of their anger to the councillor when he walks out of the offices which are currently being used by the council.
The Black City informal settlement established in 1985 had newly built RDP houses recently handed over to residents by the Provincial MEC for Housing, Whitey Jacobs.
Thandi Sopili who lived in the area for more than 20 years alleged that the Depouch practised favouritism and he 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 the Democratic Alliance (DA) food parcels
Thobela Mqombothi complained that Depouch fooled around with them.
“Depouch uses us to campaign for the election and brings White City backyarders to Black City.
“He insults us that we are Democratic Alliance followers who are being used by white people to disrupt peace in the area,” said Mqombothi.
Simpiwe Ngece one 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 says the MEC Jacobs even explained that the development was meant for the Black and White City residents.
A huge signage board in the area also bears the name of the Black and White City housing development.
Ngece said they expected the authorities to allocate the plots on 50/50 basis and it was unfair for the Black City residents to sideline them from the developed land.
He appealed to the provincial MEC for housing to intervene in the matter soon, as it will lead to bloodshed if Black City residents refused them a right to get their own plots.
Elese Depouch said at a recent public meeting Black City residents had reached an agreement to share the land with White City residents but have turned against the agreement.
Depouch said the authorities required that each housing development allocate 30% of the sites to backyarders.
However, residents 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 that could lead to disruption of services and arrests.
- City Vision
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