Cape Town - A handful of the people who had illegally occupied a block of flats in District Six 10 days ago were back there on Sunday with fresh plans to occupy more land in the area.
This follows last week’s decision by Western Cape High Court Judge Robert Henney who ruled that all the illegal occupiers should leave the flats except for one family who had two minor children. The Rural Development and Land Reform department and the trustees of the District Six Beneficiary and Redevelopment Trust, approached the court to have the squatters evicted.
Galiema Stoffels, Riedewaan and Isa Isaacs and two minor children (who were not named in the court papers) have been allowed to remain in Flat 12A until the group’s next court appearance on July 9.
But on Sunday afternoon, when the Cape Argus visited the block of flats, the flat stood empty and security guards said the family had left.
Tania Kleinhans, co-founder of the Institute for the Restoration of the Aborigine of South Africa and one of the occupiers who vacated the flats on Friday, explained that the family was not in the flat because they had taken Stoffels to see a doctor.
“Galiema (Stoffels) is stressed and traumatised. They were given strict orders about who can visit – basically they are living under quarantine because the order was not specific. Galiema has not been sleeping and her son-in-law took her to a doctor.”
Kleinhans said although there were only 11 flats listed in the court order, the group had actually occupied about 20 flats and that some of their posters and clothes were still in the flats.
She said they were still in the area living with friends while they were making contingency plans.
“We are occupying more land tomorrow,” she said pointing to an open piece of land next to the flats.
Members of the Concerned Ex-residents of District Six also joined Kleinhans and her group outside the block of flats on Sunday.
Yusuf Samuels explained that they represented 860 Lentegeur residents who were also forcibly removed from District Six during apartheid. Samuels said his old house in District Six was still standing and he had been trying to get it back since the 1980s.
“Up until today, we are on the outside. The trust is not playing its part because they are keeping us in the dark.” Samuels said it would be better if the trust was dismantled because “they are of no benefit to us.”
Anwah Nagia, District Six Beneficiary and Redevelopment Trust chairman said on Sunday that the family in Flat 12A would only be allowed to stay there until alternative accommodation was found for them in Blikkiesdorp.
With regards to criticism from Lentegeur residents, Nagia said: “We are not unduly concerned about people who do not like us. We help everybody. Some people will like us and some will hate us.”
Cape Argus