Lindiwe Sisulu supports City of Cape Town land plan

City of Cape Town’s Executive Mayor Dan Plato met with Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu on Tuesday 28 July in a bid to come to an understanding regarding the separate grievances of warring parties in the city who have been protesting violently for over a week. 

Sisulu said that the lawlessness must come to an end, but insisted that the issue of landlessness, which is fuelling the chaos, must also be urgently addressed. 

City of Cape Town call for backyarder disputes to be reported to SAPS 

Plato said that his meeting with Sisulu was productive, and was pleased that she agreed with the City’s position that land invasions are an unsustainable mechanism for airing grievances over evictions from backyard dwellings. 

“It was agreed by all that land invasions cannot be tolerated and must be prevented. I appreciate the National Minister’s support in this regard given the overwhelming coordinated nature of land invasions and related criminality,” he said. 

“The Minister further agreed that land invasion is not an acceptable alternative to backyarder disputes with landlords, who may not evict tenants under lockdown, and that this should be reported to SAPS.”

City’s commitment to landless ‘reflected in budget’

Hundreds of residents have been protesting in several areas surrounding Cape Town in recent weeks, having been angered by the City’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit swooping in to move them from newly established settlements that are erected on municipal land. 

Plato said that he had raised concerns over a lack of police support for anti-land invasion operations in Cape Town and Minister Sisulu agreed to take this up with the National Minister of Police, Bheki Cele. Plato also said that the revised City budget had made significant accommodations for the landless in the province.

“The City’s commitment is reflected in its budget, which has earmarked more than R850 million in the medium-term for upgrades to informal settlements and backyarder services in response to the growing trend of informality in our metros and across the country,” he said.

He said that attempts to invade land and illegally occupy City projects are threatening housing and human settlements projects to the value of some R1.3 billion. 

“Should these projects be lost, it will not only be to the extreme detriment of potential and future beneficiaries, it is to the detriment of Cape Town as a community. The City is doing all it can to prevent the continued attempts to invade land and projects.”

COVID-19 adding extra stress to landless 

Sisulu’s camp said that she welcomed the efforts being made by the City to shelter the landless, and agreed with Plato that there is an ‘insurmountable need for well-located land” to be provided to those currently facing eviction. 

“This requires our concerted and collective effort to bring up a holistic approach to minimise incidents of illegal invasions and evictions,” said Sisulu in a statement on Tuesday. 

“We must emphasise that whatever plans we are putting in place are for those who are genuinely distressed and not opportunists,” she said. “Those who have broken the law will have to face the consequences.”

She said that the department would further appeal to landlords who have provided shelter to the landless community not to evict them, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We all understand that the impact of COVID-19 has resulted in people losing their jobs and has hit already destitute communities particularly hard,” she said. “Human Settlements being at the forefront, it is imperative that we find a balance in alleviating the plight of bona-fide and responsible tenants with landlords.”