Long-term residents fight eviction battle
THE DA has been requested to be consistent in their spirit of compassion and “willingness” to assist long-term residents facing eviction in communities.
Nearly 300 people, mostly Sassa old-age grant recipients who have lived for more than a decade in Paradise Park Holiday Resort, Vermont, in the Greater Hermanus area, now face eviction.
On April 20, the Western Cape High Court ruled in favour of a developer and gave the families three months to vacate the premises.
Paradise Park Holiday Resort’s former owner sold the site to the developer due to financial challenges emanating from the cost of a court battle with the municipality regarding compliance.
According to the papers, the former owner stated that he terminated all lease agreements in 2016.
Some people vacated the premises while others refused. Some decided to challenge the eviction. Some claimed they had entered into a 99-year lease agreement.
Resident Tracey-Lynn Henn, 48, has been residing in the park with her husband for about a decade.
“My husband bought a house here around 2012 after the owner allowed people to place their caravans and extend them,” Henn said.
“My son also stays here with his family and my in-laws have been here for about 17 years. The previous owner established this as a camping ground to live in caravans but over time allowed people to build.
“So some houses are permanent residences and others are for holidays. All the agreements were done verbally and the long-term lease is the reason some families bought the units.”
DA constituency head for Overstrand, Masizole Mnqasela, said: “These are poor old white people, pensioners. Some of them are beyond retirement, they are quite old. There are also children.
“Now, the DA government in the Western Cape and in the municipality of Overstrand have an opportunity to use the DA policy of expropriation of land with reasonable compensation.”
GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron said evicting long-term residents, whether it be from a holiday home park, a neighbourhood undergoing gentrification or from an informal settlement, was painful.
Herron said the DA’s reaction to the situation exposed its own contradictions and racial biases.
“The DA in government often labels people unlawful occupiers and makes bold statements about their intention to evict them,” Herron said.
“The DA has also frequently opposed expropriation as a violation of the constitutional right to own property. The circumstances are dire, not because those affected are white, but because they are largely poor.”
ANC provincial local government spokesperson Cameron Dugmore also called for consistency and to assist all who face eviction or lack security of tenure , especially farmworkers.
“They never do this. We are a non-racial organisation and we will help those in need.”