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UP IN ARMS: Several people were arrested yesterday after a group of shack and backyard dwellers illegally occupied an open piece of land at Bloekombos in Kraaifontein. PHOTO: ESA ALEXANDER

This follows a violent clash between 2000 backyard dwellers and the police after they had occupied land owned by the city in Kraaifontein on Sunday.

Police repelled the bid and drove the homeless people off a piece of land along Old Paarl road, arresting eight people.

Police and members of the city's anti-land invasion unit took down structures erected illegally on Saturday.

The backyard dwellers, from Bloekombos and Wallacedene in Kraaifontein, also occupied two other pieces of land along Maroela Road.

Plot markings and building materials were visible, but no structures had been put up.

Yesterday, Abahlali baseMjondolo provincial chairman Mzonke Poni condemned the City of Cape Town's actions against land occupiers in Kraaifontein.

"The city cannot wage war on the poor and then say it wants to negotiate with us," he said.

"If the city is serious about negotiations it must first renounce violence."

Khayelitsha resident and community leader Poni said residents wanted the city to declare a moratorium on all evictions in Cape Town.

"The struggles and survival strategies of the poor must be actively supported, Poni said.

"It is the responsibility of the city to provide houses for the poor.

"For as long as people do not have houses it is essential that the occupation of unused land be supported by the city."

Poni also dismissed claims by the city that people who occupied land in Kraaifontein wanted to jump the housing waiting list.

He rejected the city's housing waiting list, saying it was totally dysfunctional.

"It has been used as a political tool by the city to incite division between black Africans and coloureds in Western Cape," he said.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said it was not possible to provide housing for everyone with the budget from the national government.

De Lille also said people must understand that many people had been on the waiting list since the 1980s.

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Sat May 25 02:57:28 SAST 2013 ::

Sep 28, 2011

KPda1st

What is happening here in Mzansi is not right i used to wonder why Mugabe was kicking the whites out of farms ,they own large piece of lands and we have to suffer and be overcrowded in rdp houses ,this is not on and when you try buy stand so you can build for yourself they ask you for 100000 and more and by that you are security guard ,we need to look at this matter urgently before what happened to Zimbabwe happens ,we should have farms that are managed by the goverment and not by private individuals that way we all know that maintance of those farms will take high priority because every SA individual will benefit from the farms production
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Sep 28, 2011

Stigga

"The struggles and survival strategies of the poor must be actively supported, Poni said.

"It is the responsibility of the city to provide houses for the poor.

"For as long as people do not have houses it is essential that the occupation of unused land be supported by the city."

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Ok I agree a little bit with the first sentence, The second one is pure rubbish my reason being is that "most" poor people flock to either Gauteng or the Western Cape, eg, ppl from limpopo going to gauteng for houses, they are not the responsibility of gauteng. i mean think about it you cant apply for a RDP house in Limpopo and expect to get it in Gauteng.

The last one is just plain stupid, its government land. Period! as much as i hate to admit it. In most cases the land is "Unused" for a reason.

I grew up in a poor household, and in general poor people are nothing but lazy bas@#@ that want handouts and think it their right to live for free
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Sep 28, 2011

Stigga

KPda1st

Every individual is already benefiting from the farms
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