Winter evictions still continuing: Sisulu

Cape Town - 140618 - Pictured is Lindiwe Sisulu. The State of the Nation Debate started today and will continue tomorrow as parties debate the address the President made the evening before. Picture: David Ritchie (083 652 4951)

Cape Town - 140618 - Pictured is Lindiwe Sisulu. The State of the Nation Debate started today and will continue tomorrow as parties debate the address the President made the evening before. Picture: David Ritchie (083 652 4951)

Published Jul 15, 2014

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Parliament - Despite a call for a moratorium on evictions during winter, the removal of informal settlement dwellers continues unabated, Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said on Tuesday.

“In the last two months since I have been appointed as minister, we have seen thousands of people evicted from their makeshift homes across the country, leading me to request a moratorium against evictions in such inclement weather,” Sisulu said while delivering her department's budget vote in Parliament.

“In some cases, this request fell on deaf ears and the weather patterns have continued to create the most untold misery on these people.”

The minister said this was part of the country's “sad story of housing”.

“Despite the fact that we have provided 3.7 million housing opportunities over the past 20 years, we are still facing a gloomy picture.”

Last month, Sisulu was forced to come to the rescue of hundreds of families who were evicted from land in Lwandle, Strand, owned by the SA National Roads Agency Limited.

After the department's intervention, it was decided that residents would be resettled on the land pending the completion of a City of Cape Town housing project in nearby Macassar, where permanent housing would be provided.

A ministerial inquiry into the evictions is currently underway in Cape Town.

Sapa

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