Vrygrond leadership threatens protests
Vrygrond leadership rejects mayor’s proposals, threatens protests
ANOTHER protest by Vrygrond residents could be on the cards after residents and the City reached a dead end in their engagements. The City told Cape Argus that it has put on the brakes with plans to start a study of a piece of land in Vrygrond that has been at the centre of violent protests for several months.
The City said that the community’s leadership objected to the time frames. They also demanded that the City close down the landfill site completely.
“Following their last meeting with the mayor, the City is no longer proceeding with that proposal. This was communicated to the leadership a few days after their rejection letter,” mayor Patricia De Lille’s spokesperson Xolani Koyana said. Koyana said that the Vrygrond Development Forum has since refused to engage with the mayor since its last meeting in May.
“The mayor has met with the Vrygrond Development Forum on three occasions and officials from the mayor’s office have also conducted a site visit to Vrygrond with the leadership forum. The mayor has always stated she is committed to engage with the residents of Vrygrond and the door for talks is open,” Koyana said.
He said the mayor also announced housing plans along Prince George Drive, but this too was rejected by the forum.
Meanwhile the forum said it would take to the streets of Cape Town again in August. “The City never came back to us and they have not addressed our grievances. Talks have reached a deadlock because the residents want the Xakabantu land,” chairperson of the forum, Mike Kumalo, said.
In May, De Lille recommended that tests be conducted on the land that has been at the centre of protests in Vrygrond. At a meeting held with community leaders of Vrygrond, De Lille said tests were required to establish whether a buffer zone could be extended. She said the test could take six to 12 months. This raised the ire of residents.
“Our people are angry and volatile, they want to occupy the land of Xakabantu,” Kumalo said. He also said that he is not aware of any housing plans announced by the City.
This is the fourth time that De Lille has tried to reach consensus with residents of Vrygrond, who brought the area to a standstill in months of violent protests.
Protesters looted a bottle store in the area. In May they targeted a private property, setting three vehicles alight, and petrol-bombed a part of the New World Foundation building in Muizenberg.
At the centre of the protest is a piece of land known as Xakabantu, which residents have vowed to occupy. It is believed to belong to a neighbouring nature reserve.