Occupiers of Cissie Gool ask mayor for lease

CISSIE Gool House (former Woodstock Hospital) occupiers have now requested mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis to lease the property to the residents currently occupying it.

The “social movement’s” requests follow an engagement with Hill-Lewis last week where they raised concerns about the City’s plans to renew the leasing of the portion of Green Point bowling green and were told that the tariff amount paid by the organisations was based on “social care“.

In responding to the Cape Argus the City also said the annual tariff of R3 000 was charged to welfare, charitable, cultural and religious organisations performing community functions on leased council property.

The movement now says because the City can employ social care where particular pieces of land are concerned, the same rates must be applied to lease Cissie Gool House to its current residents.

“The mayor has time and time again referred to us as queue jumpers who are not on the housing list. Had it not been for houses like Cissie Gool House and Ahmad Kathrada House in Green Point, we would have found ourselves on the streets. These houses responded to the urgent need for housing that the City failed to address,” it said.

The organisation said it was concerned with what it said was the growing trend of the City leasing land that should be developed for much-needed housing. It said sites like Rondebosch Golf Course and Mowbray Golf Course were being leased for nominal values.

Cissie Gool leader Miles Sampson argued that while the organisation wasn’t offering social services, the occupiers who had been at the hospital for five years wanted housing at affordable rates. Sampson said many of the occupiers have been on the housing list for decades.

Human settlements Mayco member Malusi Booi said the high court in April last year granted an order for the City and the legal representatives of some of the unlawful occupants to conduct a survey determining the identity and number of illegal occupants at the site. He said the process had been subject to numerous delays – including intimidation.

“However, the orchestrated building hijacking remains the biggest obstacle to social housing development of the site. The City is hopeful that a process of engagement will result in the vacation of the site without the need for a costly and time-consuming eviction process,” he said.