Shack dwellers want access
BACKYARD shack dwellers in Joe Slovo, Milnerton, are demanding that the City of Cape Town grant them access to a piece of land from which they have been evicted four times since June.
But the City says the backyarders have occupied the land illegally and there is a court order against their occupation.
Speaking on behalf of those occupying the land, which is the size of a soccer field, Pumza Tembani said she and other residents would occupy it until they were provided with alternative accommodation or were allowed to stay.
She said all her building material had been destroyed and some confiscated by the City’s anti-land invasion unit last Thursday when it dismantled 145 shacks.
The City’s action prompted a protest, torching a MyCiti bus and vandalising a MyCiti station in Milnerton.
While many backyarders started rebuilding shacks on the land, some of their neighbours spent the weekend behind bars charged with public violence and damage to property. They appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court in relation to the MyCiti bus that was set alight .
Silumko Bhanga said he had eight children, was unemployed and renting as a backyarder was expensive.
Mayco member for Informal Settlements Xanthea Limberg said: “There is an ongoing community consultation process under way with regard to what this land will be used for.
“Although we empathise with the plight of our residents, we simply cannot allow the illegal invasion of land.”
Mayco member for Transport and Urban Development Brett Herron said the costs associated with the attacks on MyCiti buses were mounting and setting services back.
“There have been too many attacks on buses in the same area over the past few months and we need the South African Police Service and the prosecuting authorities to act,” he said.