Cape Town - A meeting between Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and Gugulethu’s Section Four formal structure residents and Tambo Village informal settlement residents ended with no resolution on Friday.
The two-hour meeting was held at the Vukukhanye Primary School which has been disrupted by ongoing protests by the two groups, both fighting for a piece of land which the city wants to develop.
The school is in the middle of the two areas. Most roads leading to the school are filled with burnt tyres and rubble which have been used in the protests to barricade entrances to the area.
Zille visited the area to share her “exciting possibilities” for it. Part of the possibilities include a hall which would be used as an early childhood centre, a hall for the elderly which would double up as a community hall in the evenings and a common kitchen.
But neither party would agree to a compromise and Zille said this matter may need to be resolved by a court of law.
Documents handed to the city and the premier in the meeting by Nathaniel Ntloko, who is a representative of the Section Four faction, detailed agreements between the community and the government dating back to 1991.
Residents of Section Four rejected the city's proposal, saying they are not willing to compromise on their demands which include a hub where youth and adult skills development would take place, a food garden to help feed the unemployed in the area, a soup kitchen, a hall for senior citizens to gather, an early childhood development centre as well as a library.
Linda Kutta told the Weekend Argus she had been living in the area since 1972 and would not allow the people of Tambo Village to take the land. “We are not willing to compromise. We want the land to be used for what was promised to us in 1991,” said Kutta.
Another Section Four resident, Noxolo Fadana, said the current occupants of the land are not those who they as a community “allowed to move to the land during violence in KTC in the 1990s. Those people have moved to the Tambo village near Manenberg; these people here are just chance-takers and we will not allow them to take our land away from us,” she said.
Meanwhile, Nokuphila Figlane said they too would fight for the land which has been their homes for years. “We are not going anywhere. The city wants to fix the land for us and build homes for us. These people are heartless and only think about their own needs,” said Figlane.
But Zille said the city was looking at finding a solution which would suit both parties. “This is city-owned land, and the city is prepared to do consultation and to reach compromises but we have to use this land in the best interests of the most people. It is a precious resource and the city is spreading very fast because people want to come here,” said Zille.
The two parties are set to meet again on Tuesday.