Police retreated from a field in Tafelsig when ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman led a group of backyard dwellers, whom the officers had just forced off the land, back on to the invaded area.
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz is so incensed by Fransman’s behaviour, displayed a day before Wednesday’s local government elections, he has ordered an investigation into Fransman’s conduct and has spoken to provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer.
The city has obtained a court interdict to prevent the backyarders from building on the land - earmarked for formal housing - next to the Swartklip Road sports field.
”Politicians have no right to interfere with legal processes and Mr Fransman’s conduct only fuels an already tense situation,” Fritz said.
On the third consecutive day of clashes between police and residents, officers moved on to the invaded land - named New Horizons by backyarders - and fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse them.
The city’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit started demolishing shelters that residents had constructed overnight.
The unit has done so repeatedly since Sunday, despite backyarders having simply rebuilt the structures.
As the shelters were again demolished, armed police officers and armoured vehicles surrounded New Horizons, blocking the entrances to prevent residents from re-entering.
The backyarders, who were gathered near an entrance, could then be seen cheering as Fransman arrived.
Soon afterwards an ANC van, with the party’s mayoral candidate Tony Ehrenreich’s face depicted on one side and President Jacob Zuma’s on the other, arrived. Fransman spoke to the backyarders and led them back on to the field from which they had been forced.
Officers moved towards the backyarders as they moved on to the field.
Police positioned themselves opposite the cheering crowd.
When the ANC van was parked on the field and Fransman prepared to address the crowd, the officers, including their armoured vehicles and water cannon, left the field.
The backyarders cheered as the officers left and some chanted: “Viva ANC. Viva”.
After a few community leaders briefly spoke to the crowd, Fransman addressed the group over a loudspeaker.
“We thought to come out despite the City of Cape Town. The city said the people are deurmekaar (confused) here.
“But I came,” he said, as the group applauded and whistled.
Fransman was with Deputy Human Settlements Minister Zou Kota-Fredericks who said she was angered by the way police had treated backyarders.
Fransman said he had heard the backyarders had paid a woman by the name of Najwa R10 for plots of land on the field.
Kota-Fredericks said this “corruption” would be probed.
Fransman and Kota-Fredericks went on to have a private meeting on a field nearby New Horizons, with leaders of the community.
Before he moved off the field, he asked the backyarders, some of whom had already started rebuilding their shelters, to leave because they were on the land illegally and police could force them off.
Elsewhere, at a nearby field, Fransman phoned Cape Town mayor Dan Plato and asked him to see if he could stop the police from forcing the backyarders off the field.
Fransman told Plato, who was on speaker phone, that during his speech to residents he had not once said: “Vote ANC.”
“This isn’t an ANC support base. We’re not going to get the vote overnight,” Fransman told Plato.
Plato said he would have to consult others about the situation in New Horizons before committing to anything.
Fransman and ANC supporters in the ANC van then left the area.
New Horizons backyarder Asheeqa Bantom said due to Fransman’s visit, she planned to vote for the ANC today.
Lenaise Titus said she refused to vote despite Fransman’s visit.
“No ways. He’s just here now for the elections. Afterwards we’ll be forgotten,” she said. - Cape Times