NATASHA PRINCE
Staff Reporter
ONE OF the leaders of a group which has illegally occupied city-owned land in Tafelsig insists that the move is “not a political stunt”.
Yesterday marked a second day of violent clashes between members of the Mitchells Plain Backyarders Association and city law enforcement officials after members of the association moved on to the Swartklip Sports Field, which is owned by the city.
The group started erecting structures and tents on the field and on Sunday the city’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit moved in to begin dismantling these.
The land invaders flung rocks and bottles to keep officers at bay, and law enforcement officers and the metro police fired rubber bullets and water cannons at them.
There were similar scenes at the field yesterday.
City spokesman Pieter Cronje told the Cape Argus just before 9am today that approximately 80 new structures had been built overnight.
“The police and city staff are on the way to the scene,” he reported.
He said they had heard claims that the actions had been politically motivated – this from various sources, through various channels, as they negotiated a solution to the issue.
But he stressed that the city was not alleging this and that these allegations remained unproven.
Mayor Dan Plato’s spokeswoman, Rulleska Singh, said the mayor had received “allegations of political motivation from members of the community and has requested that it be investigated”.
But Sulaiman Stellenboom, the co-ordinator of the Mitchells Plain People’s Forum, which is supporting the Backyarders Association, said the organisations had been fighting with the city about housing and other issues since March.
“I disagree with (allegations of) it being an election stunt because we have had several meetings and it’s because they can’t face the community. It’s not a political thing,” Stellenboom said yesterday.
“What’s happening is that the sports field is becoming a dumping site, so they might as well give us that land for housing,” he said.
Stellenboom also serves as a member of the Mitchells Plain Community for Social Change, which caters for residents of various disadvantaged communities across the city.
He said they had marched to the local municipality in early March, when a memorandum was handed to the city with their grievances.
Several meetings had then been called with Plato, he said.
The mayor’s office confirmed that a memorandum had been received from the Mitchells Plain People’s Forum, not in their individual capacity, but as part of a larger alliance, and that a response to the memorandum was given.
The city said yesterday that portions of the land in Kapteinsklip and Swartklip which were invaded had been earmarked for formal housing and that the invasion and illegal structures could delay formal housing in the area.
Cronje said the city was considering development options in the Swartklip area that could include housing and sport.
The city also plans to erect formal houses in the Kapteinsklip but, he added, the project would take time as roads, water, electricity and sanitation had to be put in first.
“The city hopes that the occupation can be resolved and that planning for 1 200 housing units there can go ahead and that the essential bulk services can be installed,” he said.
The city said in a statement that if people continued to attempt to occupy the land and erect illegal structures, it would consider approaching the Western Cape High Court for an eviction order to evict them and to break the structures down.
“It will also ask the court to grant an interdict to stop any further structures and unlawful occupation.”