Squatters in Green Point conundrum
To evict them W Cape will have to provide alternative housing
THE Western Cape government is afraid to evict squatters from the Helen Bowden Nurses’ Home in Green Point, because it will have to provide alternative accommodation. Instead it has disconnected the water and electricity.
Delivering their annual report, the Department of Public Works and Transport, which owns the building, said 110 people were occupying the building.
Shane Hindley, director for property management, confirmed that the water and electricity supply had been cut off.
“The water supply for the fire equipment is still connected. There is security on the site and we have been engaging the occupiers on this issue,” Hindley added.
In March, dozens of Reclaim the City (RTC) supporters entered the building, escalating the occupation protest.
Social housing activists first occupied the site in early March and their initial plan was keeping the building open to the public during the day and having 15 people sleep there at night.
The occupiers of the Helen Bowden site and Woodstock Hospital want the Tafelberg site in Sea Point to be turned into affordable housing. They also want clarity on promises to develop affordable housing on the Helen Bowden and Woodstock Hospital properties.
A source at the site said the building was boarded up and occupiers needed a torch to find their way through the empty halls.
A number of rooms are empty, some littered with rubbish. The source spoke on condition of anonymity as there was a legal process under way.
ANC MPL Cameron Dugmore wanted to know if the department was willing to take on more occupiers in the building, but committee chairperson Nceba Hinana stopped him in his tracks, saying Dugmore should focus on the annual report.
Jacqueline Gooch said she had not been given any instructions to open the building. “But I received advice that to pursue an eviction process would mean the department would have to give the occupiers alternative accommodation.”
A legal process between the department and housing rights group Ndifuna Ukwazi was still under way, Gooch said.
The committee heard that about R7 million had been spent on restoration work at Leeuwenhof, the official residence of the Western Cape premier. It includes extracting ground, which will be done in phases.
MEC Donald Grant said the department’s biggest challenges were Metrorail’s ailing rail system and disputes in the taxi industry. “The rail system, though not in our control, is imperative for our people. Vandalism and economic sabotage remains a major problem,” Grant said.
The department achieved most of its targets, spent 99.1% of its over R7 billion budget and received a clean audit.