Residents vow to ‘mobilise’ if more people arrive

Cape Town 120129- Blikkiesdorp residence removed water pipes to prevent city of cape town not to put more structures. Picture Cindy waxa.Reporter Natasha/Argus

Cape Town 120129- Blikkiesdorp residence removed water pipes to prevent city of cape town not to put more structures. Picture Cindy waxa.Reporter Natasha/Argus

Published Jan 30, 2012

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Blikkiesdorp residents have vowed to remove any new structures in the camp.

On Friday the Western Cape High Court granted an eviction order to move Tafelsig squatters from Mitchells Plain to Blikkiesdorp.

The illegal squatters moved to the field, beside the Kapteinsklip train station in Tafelsig, last September after they were evicted from a site nearby, which is owned by the City of Cape Town.

Alie Blankenberg, 39, a community leader, said residents would mobilise if the city tried to move anyone else into Blikkiesdorp.

“The city is pushing more and more people into poverty. How long do we still have to stay here?

The community said if they had to bring 1976 back into Cape Town, the time when people stood up to apartheid, then they would bring it back.

“We as community leaders can only help up to a point, the community decides what they want to do.”

Ricardo Joshua, 35, who has been living in Blikkiesdorp for more than a year, said they were fed up. “The city is only taking note of people living outside the Western Cape. A structure like this is what animals live in. It is our human right to have our own house.”

Lenaise Titus, who has been living in the area for three months after being moved from Swartklip in Tafelsig, said sanitation was inadequate. “Blikkiesdorp was already full when we moved in here. If the city comes to build structures, we will protest against it.”

Community leader Jerome Daniels said residents didn’t want any more structures in Blikkiesdorp.

Ernest Sonnenberg, the mayoral committee member for housing, said: “The intention is for them (Tafelsig backyarders) to be moved to Blikkiesdorp. It’s the only emergency site the city has available.”

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