RESIDENTS from Cape Town's Makhaza in Khayelitsha have vowed to spend the weekend rebuilding shacks that were destroyed by law enforcement officials yesterday.

About 200 people demarcated plots for themselves on an empty piece of land last Monday. But SAPS officers and other city law enforcement officials quickly removed the pegs.

On Freedom Day the group built four shacks but these were razed the same day.

When Sowetan visited the scene yesterday, about 250 angry residents had started rebuilding.

"We will build them again and again. We need as many new shacks as possible because there are many of us here. We need this place," Nosiphiwo Shandu said.

Another resident, Akhona Ndabankulu, said: "I do not understand why my family has to crowd like sardines into one shack while the land nearby has never been used for anything useful."

City manager of informal settlements Mzwandile Sokupa could not be reached for comment.

Mayoral committee councillor in charge of housing, Shehaam Sims, was in a council meeting and could also not be reached for comment.