“They can kill me, I’m not going anywhere,” said defiant Hout Bay fisherman Donovan Williams yesterday.
Williams is one of 52 Hout Bay residents facing eviction by the City of Cape Town but who have vowed not to move.
He said if evicted from his home, he would lose his livelihood and his family would be left to die.
“I don’t want to end up in Blikkiesdorp because I will be nothing to my family.”
He was still troubled by violent scenes last month when police escorted workers who had gone to demolish shacks.
“I can’t sleep or go to work. I’m traumatised because of what happened,” he said.
As a result of the violent exchanges between residents and police, he gets angry whenever he sees a police officer.
Speaking to the Cape Times outside St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town where he and other residents had met after the City of Cape Town’s eviction application in the Western Cape High Court on Monday, Williams was visibly furious.
He said he refused to vacate a house he said he spent a lot of money building for his wife and two children, 14 and one.
His youngest son, who has a heart condition, would be the most affected, he said.
Having his four-roomed house demolished meant he would need money to build another house.
“Where must I get the money? I am not wealthy,” Williams said.
Fishing was the only job he had and if moved from Hout Bay he would lose income. The 35-year-old said the sea was his only place of work and he would not consider leaving Hout Bay.
He accused the city of sidelining coloured people.
“You get black empowerment and white people have all the money, but nothing is done for coloured people,” he said.
- Cape Times
Williams is one of 52 Hout Bay residents facing eviction by the City of Cape Town but who have vowed not to move.
He said if evicted from his home, he would lose his livelihood and his family would be left to die.
“I don’t want to end up in Blikkiesdorp because I will be nothing to my family.”
He was still troubled by violent scenes last month when police escorted workers who had gone to demolish shacks.
“I can’t sleep or go to work. I’m traumatised because of what happened,” he said.
As a result of the violent exchanges between residents and police, he gets angry whenever he sees a police officer.
Speaking to the Cape Times outside St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town where he and other residents had met after the City of Cape Town’s eviction application in the Western Cape High Court on Monday, Williams was visibly furious.
He said he refused to vacate a house he said he spent a lot of money building for his wife and two children, 14 and one.
His youngest son, who has a heart condition, would be the most affected, he said.
Having his four-roomed house demolished meant he would need money to build another house.
“Where must I get the money? I am not wealthy,” Williams said.
Fishing was the only job he had and if moved from Hout Bay he would lose income. The 35-year-old said the sea was his only place of work and he would not consider leaving Hout Bay.
He accused the city of sidelining coloured people.
“You get black empowerment and white people have all the money, but nothing is done for coloured people,” he said.
- Cape Times
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