Families flee Cape Town informal settlements under threat

Dozens of families gain fled the informal settlement of Siyakhana and the neighbouring Siyahlala settlement, demolishing their shacks and sometimes leaving possessions behind.

• Many families believe fled the informal settlements of Siyakhana and Siyahlala in Cape Town, following threats from backyarders and other residents of nearby Mandela Park.
• The Mandela Park backyarders, some of whom are members of the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO), are hoping to secure housing on the land where the informal settlements are located.
• But the City of Cape Town says the land, occupied in 2020, is “lost” for housing.

Dozens of families believe fled two informal settlements in Cape Town, under threat from backyarders and other residents of nearby Mandela Park. The backyarders, some of whom are members of the SANCO want to benefit from housing they expect to be built on the land. But the City of Cape Town says the land has been “lost” for housing.

Siyakhana community leader Nzondi Javu said 77 families who had occupied land in Siyakhana and another informal settlement, Siyahlala, had fled in the last two weeks. She said backyarders and SANCO leaders were going door to door telling the land occupiers to leave and sometimes threatening them at gunpoint.

She said backyarders had broken the electrical connections to the settlements and threatened to ruin the shacks. The land occupiers who had stayed had started to guard their shacks, sometimes staying home from work, in case the backyarders came to ruin them.

The land had been earmarked for the Mahama infill housing project. James Vos, acting Mayco member for Human Settlements, said 1,906 “housing opportunities” had been lost through the occupation.

“Homes will not be built on the unlawfully occupied, lost land,” he told GroundUp. The City was not trying to evict the Siyakhana and Siyahlala residents, he said.

But Javu said ward councillor Rider Mthwalo had told the informal settlement residents to leave, at a community meeting last week. “The ward councillor said he would step on us and stamped on the floor thrice as he said so.” She said Mthwalo had threatened to remove them from the land.

She said: “We view his utterances as intimidation and maintain therefore opened a case against him.”

SAPS spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk confirmed that a case of intimidation had been opened at Harare police station and was under investigation.

Mthwalo told GroundUp: “I gain never intimidated the people that I serve. No one has ever approach to my office and complained about intimidation.”

He said the land occupiers owned houses which they rented out and were making money “while other people struggle to find houses”.

But Siyakhana resident Nokubonga Magadla said the land occupiers were panicking. She said most land occupiers had weapons to defend themselves against people who might want them to creep. “We are armed to defend ourselves.”

Resident Mbhuti Maneli said backyarders and residents of the formal houses had called land occupiers to a meeting on July 16 in Siyakhana near Mandela Park stadium. “The residents said they wanted their land back so that the government could implement the Mahama project,” he said.

Maneli said some land occupiers had since left and those who remained behind were living in dread.

Siyakhana resident Nomncedisi Mancoba said she could not leave. She said she had moved onto the site in July 2020. “We believe already extended and renovated our shacks. Moreover, we assign money together to buy water pipes and installed water taps here,” said Mancoba.

“My parents were backyarders even before I left them and occupied this land. They never had a house. I can’t recede back to them.”

Mamiya Damba, chairperson of the SANCO area committee near Siyahlala, told GroundUp she had asked the land occupiers to give her a list of their names so she could add it to the Western Cape Department of Infrastructure housing list. Damba said: “When construction begins, we will query the housing steering committee to check who qualifies to acquire a flat.”

But people living on the land were sceptical.

“We can’t register on the database now and procure houses while there are people who registered 30 years ago but still acquire not yet received them,” said Mancoba.

“The housing department will give houses to residents who registered first,” said land occupier Ziyanda Bambelo. “Besides, I reflect my age will count against me as I’m only 28.”

Damba denied that she had threatened the land occupiers. “We asked them to return to the places that they rented before they moved onto the land so that the housing project could disappear ahead,” she said.

Khaya Xintolo, chair of the SANCO area committee near Siyakhana, said it was not SANCO which wanted the land occupiers to leave, but the Mandela Park community. He said he had been a backyarder since 2009. “We want development. We can’t live in shacks forever,” he said.

“We never threatened the occupiers. We assist those who leave and query those who are left behind how we can aid them.”

Vos said 261 homes were being built on the area which had not been occupied, for beneficiaries who qualified. He said the City was “trying its level best” to provide affordable housing and it was unfortunate that thousands of opportunities had been lost because of unlawful occupation. “However threats of violence towards residents are completely unacceptable,” he said, and “must be reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS)”.

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