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THREE homeless families are still reeling from their second eviction in three weeks.

The families were evicted from the tunnels under Kalk Bay harbour three weeks ago; their shacks were then ripped down by city officials on Monday, 28 April in the informal settlement of Overcome Heights in Lavender Hill.

The families, consisting of three couples and four children under the age of six, have re-erected a shack in Overcome Heights in an attempt to keep their families dry in the pending winter months.

Betty Jacobs, who says she has never known what it is like to live under a roof, says they were living under the tunnels at Kalk Bay harbour for about seven years before they were evicted by the harbour master. Jacobs says they were in Muizenberg on the day that the digger loaders arrived to dump a house-full of sand on top their groceries, clothes, beds, documents and toiletries.

"I was so traumatised. The sand was so high I could not dig out our belongings with a spade," she says.

Pat Stacey, Kalk Bay's harbour master, says that for years the harbour has been the subject of numerous allegations by Kalk Bay residents about drug and alcohol abuse under the tunnels. He says he had given the homeless people notice to vacate the premi?ses under the Marine Living Resources Act.

He says that this Act does not compel one to go through the courts for an eviction.

He says that he instructed the person who was under the bridge on the day of the eviction to move their belongings. He says the rest of their belongings were taken to the dump and what was left was just rubbish.

"If their things were covered, then tough," says Stacey.

He says that there are warrants of arrest for four of the homeless people, all for living illegally under the bridge.

Colin Arendse, secretary of the Homeless People's Crisis Committee, disagrees strongly with the harbour master's method of evicting the drifters.

"Kalk Bay's harbour is an asset of the state and is therefore bound by the Constitution," says Arendse.

He says that even if the people who lived under the tunnels did not own the land, they had certain rights.

He says the Security of Te?nure Act outlines rights for them similar to those of farm wor?kers who live on a farmer's land, stipulating strict conditions for the termination of residence.

After their first eviction, the families moved to Overcome Heights and asked the Overcome Housing Forum for permission to erect shacks on the road reserve in the area.

Demetri Qually, councillor for Ward 64 and chairperson of the South Peninsula Subcouncil, says this move was apparently initia?ted by a social worker from the Haven Night Shelter in Kalk Bay and "approved" by the self-appointed committee in Overcome Heights, but the area in which they erected their shacks is part of a road reserve.

Qually says that he has already explained that the city cannot allow land invasions of this nature.

"I spoke to senior management to see if any exceptions were possible, but they were not.

"The shacks were demolished by the city's Land Invasion Unit on Monday, 28 April, but were subsequently re-erected and occupied on Thursday, 1 May. This means that legal action is required to affect the evictions," says Qually.

He says he has tried to enlist the help of many non-governmental organisations.

"This episode once again highlights the urgent need for Social Services (national and provincial government) to provide facilities and services for this type of problem," says Qually.

Arendse disagrees again, saying that the correct procedure was not followed in both evictions. "Even if the families are there illegally, the city cannot break the law by evicting them without following due process," says Arendse.

He says that authorities needed to gain a court order of eviction, and that the occupants would then have 14 days in which to respond. Arendse says that the homeless people should go to the office of the Judge President to request that he appoint them a lawyer at the expense of the state.

"Thereafter this matter can go to court," says Arendse.

According to Fawzia Cassiem, deputy chairperson of the Overcome Housing Forum, the city official in question did not have a court order to evict the residents on the day that the families' shacks were ripped apart. At the time of going to print, People's Post was not able to gain confirmation on whether or not an eviction order had been obtained.

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