Delft squatters 'still unhappy'

2008-02-22 18:23

Verashni Pillay

Cape Town - Evicted Delft residents said on Friday that they won't accept the city's proposed alternative accommodation if it means moving to Tsunami, government's Temporary Relocation Area (TRA) in Delft.

The city of Cape Town announced on Friday that it was preparing an alternative site with basic services to accommodate the evicted squatters for the next two years, but did not say where it would be.

More than a thousand evicted occupants have been squatting on Symphony Way, the road that runs past the subsidised housing they were evicted from on Tuesday.

"We will not accept any other place except here, we will not move to Tsunami," chairperson of the Western Cape anti-eviction campaign, Ashraf Cassiem, told News24.

Still waiting

He said people who had been moved to Tsunami in the past were still waiting for their houses.

"The people here know that space and they don't want to move there," he said, adding that crime was a concern.

Mayoral housing committee member Dan Plato said a site would be ready in three to four weeks.

Mayoral spokesperson Robert Macdonald said the city would not reveal exactly where the site was yet to prevent people moving in before it was ready.

He said the site is in the Delft area, not very far from where the squatters were now.

The TRA known as Tsunami is about one kilometre away from the Delft Symphony housing project, where the illegal occupants have been living since their eviction.

In the meantime the city had provided 40 chemical toilets on the road with another 50 to follow on Friday evening.

Water standpipes were also being installed, and skips were being arranged for solid waste removal.

'Nothing communicated'

"These services will help to relieve the immediate plight of those living in the open while the city prepares an alternative site with basic services to accommodate them," said Plato.

Cassiem said that no information released on Friday had been communicated to the squatters.

Meanwhile Sapa reported that DA ward councillor Frank Martin has been criminally charged with inciting the occupation of the homes.

Director of state-owned housing developer Thubelisha, Xhanti Sigcawu, said this week the company was contemplating suing Martin for about R20m, the cost of repairing damage caused by the illegal occupants.

- News24