Yesterday Sexwale was in Langa township for the handing-over of the most recently completed houses of the N2 Gateway development.
But, instead of listening to the complaints of the protesting residents, Sexwale told a packed marquee that it was wrong to play politics when development was at stake.
Earlier, about 200 residents from informal settlements along the N2 sang Sexwale's praises, saying that he would take them out of shacks.
But their high spirits took a dive when the housing minister said those who were not on Cape Town's housing waiting list would not benefit from the latest phase of the N2 development.
"Those who are getting these houses, do not sell these houses. Do not rent them out," Sexwale told beneficiaries before the ceremonial handover.
Ntobethemba Samsam, who moved to Cape Town from Tsolo, in Eastern Cape, in February to live with her daughter in the squalid Barcelona informal settlement, said all she wanted was a home for her family.
"We came here to ask that Sexwale build houses for us. It's not nice living in Barcelona because we're constantly flooded," said Samsam.
Nolwazi Rona, who lives in the Kanana informal settlement, in Gugulethu, said she had gone to the ceremony to ask Sexwale to provide a house, but was ignored.
"It seems we will have to go back to the streets to be heard. No car will pass on the N2 until we've been heard," said Rona.
Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille have blamed the ANC Youth League for inciting the violent protests in some of the city's townships.
Youth league regional secretary Mfuzo Zenzile on Monday said some members of the league might be behind some of the violence, angry that Zille and De Lille had not responded to their memorandum of two weeks ago.
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