City condemns repeated land invasion attempts in Mfuleni

The City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU), Law Enforcement and the South African Police Service (SAPS) today removed 45 illegally erected, unoccupied structures in an area in Mfuleni. During the subsequent violent protests which occurred, the SAPS arrested approximately 16 individuals. Most of the material has been removed to discourage further land invasion attempts and the area continues to be monitored.

The City has thwarted constant attempts to invade serviced plots in this area which have been earmarked for occupation by legitimately identified beneficiaries of the Bardale human settlements development.

We further condemn any political instigation encouraging land invasions. Land invasions result in poor access to City services, constant flooding, high crime rates and poor connections with economic opportunities.

Political instigators should start taking responsibility for the conditions that arise in settlements that are born from invasions. I urge our residents not to be duped by organisations who claim to have their best interests at heart, while in reality they are actually driving a political or financial agenda.

Cape Town has the highest urbanisation rate in the country. It is imperative that we uphold a fair and equitable system of delivering and accelerating the provision of housing opportunities and other services to those in need and to our most vulnerable residents. The unplanned proliferation of informal settlements makes this task a great challenge.

The City will continue to do everything in its power to prevent the illegal occupation of sites of its Bardale development. We will not allow legitimate beneficiaries to be robbed of their housing opportunities by organisations who are fighting for political control of an area and promising sites to those who have not been earmarked as legitimate beneficiaries in this development.

The City is installing water and sanitation services on the sites and the allocations, as per the National Subsidy and allocations criteria, have been completed recently. Legitimate beneficiaries are being notified of their selection.

The attempted land invasions do not have an impact on the timeframe for occupation of the legitimate beneficiaries and we will do everything in our power to ensure that the timeframe for occupation remains on track.

Issued by Councillor Benedicta van Minnen, Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, City of Cape Town, 14 September 2015