Forty-two people who had been living in a 4mx5m shack in Mfuleni are sleeping outside after their dwelling was dismantled by the City of Cape Town.
The city said the land needed to be protected as it was designated for other people.
“We knew they were coming… they broke down the shack and took our materials,” said Bongisisa Maqungo.
He said that when they moved on to the land the people in the area told them the land was to be used for a housing project.
He said the city’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit had arrived on Friday to take photographs.
They arrived again at around 10am on Saturday and evicted the families.
“They didn’t show us anything, no order to say why they were demolishing our structure,” said Maqungo.
The group said they had been evicted from the same place seven times since they moved in on March 17.
They said they had slept outside in the cold on Saturday night.
“We slept here just like this – and we are in danger because the thugs, they can come and take our things,” said Maqungo.
He said they were slowly collecting materials from friends to rebuild.
They claim members of the unit broke their television and a wash bucket and that they took a cupboard.
Ernest Sonnenberg, the city’s human settlements mayoral committee (Mayco) member, said the city would be sticking to its guns on the matter, saying it needed to protect its land.
He said the land was already allocated for houses. “We cannot justify it when people invade land,” he said.
“You cannot claim that the land belongs to you because you come from Mfuleni when it is allocated to someone else.”
He said the allegations made against the unit would have to be investigated.
Sonnenberg said if they were evicted without a court order they should approach one of the legal aid clinics at Stellenbosch University, UWC or UCT.
The Cape Argus reported on Friday on the shack, which was home to eight men, 11 women, 15 boys and eight girls. They had previously been evicted from a backyard in Bhadeni, Mfuleni.
One of the women gave birth to a girl on Thursday when she went to the doctor with what she thought was flu.
The walls of the shack were made out of zinc, broken cupboards and plastic. It had no windows, doors, electricity, water or ablutions.
The occupants had to go to their neighbours for water to drink, cook and bath, and to use the toilet.
Bruce Oom, spokesman for Human Settlements MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela, told the Cape Argus last week that the department was aware of the backyarders’ plight.
“There are many families who are in a desperate situation but unfortunately we don’t have resources or legislation to accommodate them. There are hundreds and thousands of people waiting for housing opportunities in the Western Cape. We cannot provide temporary housing.
“We can only build about 13,000 houses a year, and about 12,000 service sites (a piece of property with basic services) where people can build their own structures on the site.”
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