City has a responsibility to protect Council-owned land

Churches have been erecting structures on vacant Council-owned land without the necessary permission to occupy the land and with no building plans submitted. This problem is most widely experienced in the Khayelitsha, Langa and Phillipi areas.

The Church leadership has met with the City's Anti-Land Invasion Unit as well as with the Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato. In these meetings the City has confirmed the Council cannot allow the continuation of the illegal occupation and illegal building on Council-owned land. Any use of City owned land has to be done through a fair and open process, in which the broader community is consulted.

The City and Church leadership have agreed that buildings already standing would not be demolished while discussions are ongoing, but that no new structures would be allowed to be built.

Unfortunately, new construction has continued despite repeated requests and warnings from Council. In addition, these structures are built without the submission of plans and all of them do not comply with health and safety regulations.

The City encourages Church leaders to follow the correct process in order to obtain permission to erect a structure in terms of Council's policy.

Statement issued by Rulleska Singh, Media Spokesperson for Mayor of Cape Town, Dan Plato, March 9 2010

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