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Sisulu: That's not what I said!
12/09/2007 21:19 - (SA)
Cape Town - Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has vehemently denied that she is contemplating forced removals from Cape Town's troubled Joe Slovo shack settlement.
But in the same breath on Wednesday she said she had instructed her department and Gateway project developers Thubelisha "to investigate legal avenues to compel residents of informal settlements to make way for housing developments".
On Tuesday she said in a statement that she had instructed the department to look at "legal solutions" to clearing the land after Monday's violent protests by residents.
"Until now, no attempts have been made to force residents of the informal settlement at Joe Slovo to move," she said in Tuesday's statement.
"I abhor the term"
On Wednesday she said: "I am not contemplating 'forced removals' from Joe Slovo, as reported in newspapers today.
"I abhor the term, with its apartheid connotations.
"I am investigating all available solutions to ensure the delivery of houses is not undermined."
She said she believed most Joe Slovo residents were law-abiding people who would move off the land into temporary accommodation voluntarily to allow Gateway developers in.
Earlier, the Joe Slovo Task Team said one of its activist members who acted as spokesperson for the shack dwellers during Monday's confrontation with police had been arrested.
The Team said Mzwanele Zulu went to the Langa police station on Tuesday evening to inform police that the community wanted to have a meeting inside the settlement to discuss the way forward.
The police agreed not to harass the meeting in any way.
"However, just minutes later a[s] Mzwanele was walking home, police swooped on him and arrested him," the Task Team said.
It was "quite clear" that Zulu had been arrested merely for being an activist and a media spokesperson.
"This is ludicrous because on Monday, the police insisted on speaking to a negotiator from [the] Task Team and Mzwanele was that negotiator. So it is clear that the arrest is unlawful."
Nine arrests in all
Police spokesperson Elliot Sinyangana said two people were arrested on Tuesday night as part of ongoing investigations into the case of public violence opened in the wake of Monday's unrest.
He did not have their names, and did not know yet when they would appear in court.
He said the two arrests brought the total arrests related to the unrest to nine.
The Team in its statement also accused Sisulu of lying about the proposed removal of 6 000 Joe Slovo residents to Delft to make way for the Gateway project.
"Bald faced lie"
The removal was one of the major grievances behind Monday's protest.
"The Minister of Housing keeps saying that this move will be temporary. This is a bald-faced lie.
"Joe Slovo residents are going to be left in Delft for the rest of their lives. There are no plans to accommodate them in the new housing that is getting built in Joe Slovo.
"Only 1000 people maximum can be accommodated in the new Joe Slovo houses, which leaves 5000 unaccounted for."
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