Forum calls for action on Khayelitsha housing shortage

The Khayelitsha Human Settlements Forum is calling for urgent action to be taken to address the shortage of housing. Picture: Thomas Holder/African News Agency (ANA) Archives

The Khayelitsha Human Settlements Forum is calling for urgent action to be taken to address the shortage of housing. Picture: Thomas Holder/African News Agency (ANA) Archives

Published Aug 5, 2020

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Cape Town – The Khayelitsha Human Settlements Forum is calling for urgent action to be taken to address the shortage of housing.

Following a number of land invasions in the area, the forum held a media briefing yesterday. Forum convener Sibongele Mbele said: “As Khayelitsha Human Settlements Forum, we are calling upon all stakeholders to play their roles in making sure that the provision of human settlement is delivered and its beneficiaries receive houses as desired. Khayelitsha as a community is law-abiding (and) adheres to lockdown regulations.

“The mushrooming of land grabs and protests go against the pronouncements on Covid-19 by the president.

“(Land grabs and protests) encourage our people to illegally converge in mass without PPE (personal protection equipment).”

He said such mass gatherings undermined “the great work of the Khayelitsha Covid-19 Response Team in flattening the curve in Khayelitsha”.

Mbele said the Covid-19 pandemic exposed social challenges in Khayelitsha such as poverty, unemployment, crime and drugs.

“The unsuitable lands for housing and human settlement holistically are being occupied due to frustration, and this is not a solution but a rapid disaster, a calamity waiting to happen.

“The unrest caused as a by-product of land invasions has spiralled into all three spheres of government streets are filthy and our township an unhygienic place for us to live in,” he said.

Between April and July this year, the City’s law enforcement officers had to respond to 260 incidents of illegal land invasions.

Cape Argus

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