Cape Town - The City of Cape Town says its Public Housing Department has issued 14 eviction notices and conducted 46 visits to unlawful occupants of Community Residential Units (CRU) in Manenberg.
A meeting was held on Saturday between Mayco member for human settlements, Malusi Booi and residents after the City said it had identified 52 cases in the area where CRUs had been unlawfully occupied and that unlawful occupation of units was unfair toward residents who were waiting for their opportunity.
“The government has failed the people, Manenberg was born out of forced removals, the Constitution talks about redress of the inequalities but the government has failed to address those things because we are still living in ghettos and we are still landless,” said a community activist identified as Gatto.
He said they wanted the people and government to work together to find a solution and that they had called for three things at the meeting on Saturday: for the City to stop the evictions, an apology to residents and a process of dialogue to solve the issue of land.
Their next meeting with Booi is set for July 9.
“We are saying the current way of problem solving is not working, eviction notices mean you are making someone homeless, we are involving other communities who are facing the same issues to be a part of this process,” Gatto said.
Resident Josephine Kayser, 54, said she received an eviction letter in May but was given a letter on Friday by law enforcement. Kayser said she was a tenant in a house for over 16 years and the owner gave it to her and she moved in with her daughter.
“I am not sure what is going to happen, I have nowhere else to go and my family depends on me.”
Kayser said she lives in a one-bedroomed house with about 15 people including her children and grandchildren.
Booi said: “Our Public Housing Department carefully considers each case on its merits and in line with the criteria and conditions of approved policy. The City urges residents who have been issued with notices to visit our housing offices with their required documentation so that they may be advised on the correct steps to follow should they want to be considered for normalisation.
“The City’s reviewed Allocation Policy provides for residents with permanent disability and medical conditions to be considered for normalisation as the rightful tenants, subject to them meeting qualifying criteria.”
Cape Times