Lauren Isaacs
BACKYARD dwellers illegally occupying two sites in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, say donations of food and vouchers are being misappropriated by individuals who are supposed to help them.
Lenaise Titus, who lives on the Swartklip site, said several donations of food and vouchers had been given to the Backyard Dwellers’ Association.
But since the group moved on to the two sites, its members had seen little of the food donated.
“We know the Backyard Dwellers’ Association committee has received donations from supermarkets and wholesalers. Winners Supermarket and Multiscore Supermarket in Mitchells Plain are two of them,” Titus said.
She said that in the 113 days the group had been living on the Swartklip site, they had received one tub of butter, eight 2kg packets of chicken, 12 tins of split peas, 24 tins of lentils and six sachets of powdered milk. This was meant to feed about 60 people.
“On more than one occasion, people who donated food would visit us and ask whether we had received the gatsbys or bread and other food they had sent. We have never received any of those items,” Titus said.
The chairman of the Backyard Dwellers’ Association, Charles Adams, said “misunderstandings” over the missing donations had led to a split in the group’s leadership.
“I can confirm the residents of Kapteinsklip and Swartklip have not received all the groceries donated, but I can’t tell you where it disappeared to.”
The Western Cape High Court heard on Tuesday that those behind the land invasion had abused the “desperate” backyarders by encouraging them to move on to the land illegally.
Judge Nathan Erasmus said their actions amounted to fraud.
He ruled that the squatters had to leave the two sites by September 26.
The people living on the Swartklip land have no access to water. They have a five-minute walk to fetch water.
They are now receiving food only from the Cape Care Charity, which visits the two sites once a week.