Political point-scoring won’t shelter the poor

WE really know how to kick people when they are down. Haunting scenes played out in the informal settlement of Lwandle in the Western Cape this week as roads agency Sanral evicted squatters who had illegally occupied its land. Why this had to be done in June, in the bitter grip of winter, remains a mystery.

There is also a dispute over the legality of Sanral’s actions. Some experts argue that the agency was merely granted an interdict to restrain unlawful occupation, not an eviction order. On Thursday morning, news broke that the squatters were now being returned to the land they had occupied. So much confusion and heartache . . .

Images of a half-naked woman slugging it out with a police officer, schoolbooks scattered on the ground and barbed wire separating the authorities and squatters do not make for a “good story”.

As expected, the accusations and counteraccusations followed. Sanral blamed the DA-run city of Cape Town. The ANC blamed the Western Cape leadership. Of course, this is the one province the ruling party did not win.

The DA blamed Sanral, the national government and those who voted for the ANC. The party claimed that if it had been in government, none of this would have happened and it would have dealt decisively with Sanral and the need for housing.

Such lies, from all of them. The reality is that the housing problem in South Africa is complex and the needs so severe that merely voting for the DA is not going to mean everyone gets a house. No one in the DA has the ability to click his fingers to make houses drop like manna from heaven. If the occupation had not happened on Sanral’s land, it would have happened on another stretch of private property, because people are that desperate.

As for the ANC, evictions happen everywhere in South Africa, not just in the Western Cape. Just as the party was sanctimoniously pointing a finger at the DA, karma struck. On Wednesday, the Red Ants eviction squad moved into Alexandra in Gauteng, an ANC stronghold. It is reported that the residents were not given any warning. But even if they had been, why demolish people’s homes at 10am when many are at work?

While the different parties are busy passing this political football, people are out in the cold, wondering what tomorrow will bring. Then again, they probably don’t even have the energy to think about tomorrow.

This is not the time for political point-scoring. If the problem is too complex, the parties must admit it and enlist help. But this oneupmanship is selfish and hypocritical. The pertinent questions are: What resources are available? What is the extent of housing needs? Are there alternatives that can be explored timeously? If an eviction is inevitable, can it be carried out in a humane way?

The argument that squatters were given ample notice is such self-righteous myopia. You honestly expect a poor person, who has nothing to his or her name, to just quietly leave? Do those of us with full stomachs honestly want to negotiate with one whose stomach is empty?

We come with the ignorance that our comfort affords us, but the poor person comes with desperation and a “I have nothing to lose” argument. I am not suggesting there should be lawlessness. But I am saying that, sometimes, our expectations of poor, desperate people are unreasonable.

Some critics have pointed out that those who live in shacks have cars and DStv. Since when is DStv a sign of wealth when the cheapest package costs R29 a month? Besides, those who have these trappings are the exception rather than the rule. How convenient to use them as a template of the typical shack dweller.