Cape Town - Bromwell Street residents have been thrown a lifeline after Mayor Patricia De Lille promised to intervene in the eviction stand-off between the defiant group and their landlord, the Woodstock Hub.
The Woodstock Hub won a Western Cape High Court battle which ordered the families to vacate the property by July 31, but the property owners extended this date to Friday.
Residents, however, are refusing to budge.
One of the possible evictees, Graham Beukes, said he refused to have his family moved to areas “such as Blikkiesdorp or the Cape Flats”, and said the other four families shared his sentiment.
Beukes said reports that 28 families face eviction were not true.
“It is actually five families, not 28,” he explained.
“How would it be possible for 28 families to occupy five houses?” he asked.
The families occupy 120 to 128 Bromwell Street, which the possible evictees claim the Woodstock Hub plan to demolish to allegedly make way for residential flats.
Beukes confirmed De Lille had engaged with residents on Wednesday.
“We really welcome the Mayor’s intervention and all of us were glad to see her here,” he said.
De Lille’s spokeswoman, Pierrinne Leukes, said: “The Mayor is exploring possible solutions with all those concerned. We will communicate once a solution has materialised.”
In a previous statement, the City had distanced itself from the eviction drama, saying it was a “private matter” between the residents and the landlord.
“In general, we are working hard to enable subsidised accommodation for our more vulnerable residents in the near inner-city areas and across the metro,” mayoral committee member for human settlements Benedicta van Minnen said in an e-mailed response.
“There are currently earmarked near-inner city social housing projects in the Woodstock and Salt River area.
“City-wide, we have budgeted approximately R230 million in this financial year for social housing projects alone,” Van Minnen added.
In a written memorandum of demands, the Bromwell Street residents said: “We will always resist an eviction which will render us homeless.”
Cape Argus