Police fired rubber bullets and arrested three people as Masiphumelele backyard dwellers near Kommetjie protested against poor housing delivery in the area.
Tension mounted in the settlement at the intersection of Pokelwa and Ntantala ways where angry backyarders had gathered after meeting with Fish Hoek ward counsellor Felicity Purchase and community leaders in the Masiphumelele Community Hall earlier on Friday.
Purchase had been questioned at the meeting about the provincial housing project and undertook to raise these issues with the authorities.
The backyard dwellers, however, were not satisfied with her undertaking and demanded that their landlords and government officials be present at their next meeting.
After leaving the meeting they sang and danced at a four-way stop while community representatives argued with police.
When the group refused to disperse, police opened fire with rubber bullets and searched for people identified earlier as inciting violence with the burning of tyres and throwing stones.
Three people were arrested and will be charged with public violence.
Earlier on Friday, at about 5am, backyard dwellers had burnt tyres and disrupted traffic flow along Pokelwa Way and Kommetjie Road.
However, tension has been simmering since Monday, according to Ocean View station commissioner Captain Helene Mouton, when private land owners, who intended starting with the construction of their houses, evicted the backyard dwellers. The land they were evicted from is for phases one and two of a housing project.
The backyard dwellers were unhappy that they had been denied the right to move on to land available for phase four of the project.
Isiqalo Housing Project chairperson Mfundiso Ngetu said this morning that they would not stop demonstrating until their demands had been met.
During the stand-off with police, Ngetu said: "You can shoot us, you can arrest us, we don't give a damn."
By 11:30 on Friday most of the backyard dwellers had dispersed but there was a heavy police presence in the area.
- Cape Argus
Tension mounted in the settlement at the intersection of Pokelwa and Ntantala ways where angry backyarders had gathered after meeting with Fish Hoek ward counsellor Felicity Purchase and community leaders in the Masiphumelele Community Hall earlier on Friday.
Purchase had been questioned at the meeting about the provincial housing project and undertook to raise these issues with the authorities.
| "You can shoot us, you can arrest us, we don't give a damn" |
After leaving the meeting they sang and danced at a four-way stop while community representatives argued with police.
When the group refused to disperse, police opened fire with rubber bullets and searched for people identified earlier as inciting violence with the burning of tyres and throwing stones.
Three people were arrested and will be charged with public violence.
Earlier on Friday, at about 5am, backyard dwellers had burnt tyres and disrupted traffic flow along Pokelwa Way and Kommetjie Road.
However, tension has been simmering since Monday, according to Ocean View station commissioner Captain Helene Mouton, when private land owners, who intended starting with the construction of their houses, evicted the backyard dwellers. The land they were evicted from is for phases one and two of a housing project.
The backyard dwellers were unhappy that they had been denied the right to move on to land available for phase four of the project.
Isiqalo Housing Project chairperson Mfundiso Ngetu said this morning that they would not stop demonstrating until their demands had been met.
During the stand-off with police, Ngetu said: "You can shoot us, you can arrest us, we don't give a damn."
By 11:30 on Friday most of the backyard dwellers had dispersed but there was a heavy police presence in the area.
- Cape Argus
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