CITY OF CAPE TOWN CANNOT ABDICATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR NOMZAMO EVICTIONS

Pretoria, 3 June 2014. The City of Cape Town must shoulder a primary responsibility for the events that led to the eviction of people from the Nomzamo informal settlement following a court order.

"The SA National Roads Agency SOC Ltd [SANRAL] has clear evidence that the City prevented the acquisition of an alternative piece of land for the relocation of communities living inside the N2 road reserve. It is obvious that they used the issue of toll-roads in the Western Cape as an excuse to terminate discussions on the issue," SANRAL spokesperson Vusi Mona said.

Ongoing negotiations between SANRAL, the City of Cape Town and private developers were suddenly cut short by the City in an e-mail message from the City dated 31 August 2011. The message stated:

Meeting of 8 April 2011 between SANRAL and CCT refers: Mayor's Office:

Notwithstanding any previous correspondence, please accept herewith that Council cannot advise, one way or the other, on your proceeding with the acquisition of Erf ST681-17 for the eventual relocation of occupiers of the N2 road reserve (Onverwacht Interchange), until such time as the Intergovernmental Dispute over road-tolling has been resolved."

At the time SANRAL had been engaging with the City since 2003 to relocate the occupants living in the road reserve to alternative accommodation or serviced sites.

The deliberate inaction of the City brought this process to an abrupt end. This caused further invasion of the land. SANRAL eventually had no other option to apply for a High Court Order to prevent further land invasion. This Order was granted on 24 January 2014 and the Sheriff's office started with the enforcement of the Order on 19 February.     

As an agency of the Department of Transport, SANRAL works together with all three spheres of government. It cooperates with all local and metro authorities and cannot carry out any developments without their approval.

In the case of the Nomzamo land, SANRAL approached private developers in 2006 to assist with the relocation of informal settlers inside the N2 road reserve. SANRAL reached an agreement to acquire the land from the private developer and with the City to provide subsidies to the affected people.

The following year the private developer provided 1 900 structures as part of the relocation process and the City made good on the subsidies to the affected households. The cost of relocation, at the time, was set at about R1 200 per structure.

In about December 2009, the City requested SANRAL to assist it to temporarily locate people who were occupying the City's road reserve (the Onverwacht road). As part of the continued cooperation with the City and in the spirit of cooperative governance, the request was acceded to. Thereafter, a further 450 structures at Bardale were constructed. A combination of the remainder of the originally affected people and those affected by the Onverwacht road were relocated to Bardale

SANRAL met with city officials on two occasions in March and April 2011 where it was suggested that SANRAL negotiate with the owner to purchase two portions of the Farm No.681 Stellenbosch.

The intention was that SANRAL would acquire these properties and donate them to the City. In exchange, the City had identified a property at the Macassar interchange that was to be developed, together with a small portion of land owned by SANRAL, for the relocation of the occupants.

The owner of the land signed a sale agreement for these two properties and the transaction was about to be approved by SANRAL when the City sent its e-mail, dated 31 August 2011, to terminate its cooperation about the relocation of the affected people.

It is regrettable that the City's refusal to work with SANRAL has been done at the expense of housing for the poor. In the spirit of cooperative governance SANRAL offered to purchase land and donate it to the City - but this was spurned because of the City's vindictive attitude and linkages to the N2 Winelands road.

Notwithstanding the City's attitude to address the humanitarian plight of the illegal occupants living within the road reserve, SANRAL agreed with the City that services such as water and sanitation be placed on the boundaries of the property as a temporary measure until the relocation was completed.

The City lost a second opportunity to resolve the issue when SANRAL offered other, alternative, portions of land for possible relocation. No response to this offer was ever received.

After the court order was contravened on numerous occasions SANRAL obtained the services of the Sheriff and the SA Police Services to enforce the order and evict the illegal invaders.

This situation might not have arisen if the City did not walk away from the discussions with SANRAL to find an amicable solution to the issue. Through its decision to link constructive discussions on resettlement options with the N2 road project the City has abdicated its responsibility.

"Despite the City efforts to put the blame on SANRAL, the agency's offer to donate land to Cape Town remains open. We call on the City to rescind its decision of 31 August 2011 and restart the process to find a workable solution that will benefit the poor communities affected by the recent events," Mona said.

Statement issued by SANRAL, June 3 2014

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