GOOD Statement by Brett Herron: Member of Parliament and GOOD Secretary-General
19 April 2022
By refusing to accept the constitutional obligation to unstitch the apartheid Group Areas Act, while at the same time under-servicing informal settlements to discourage the migration of new work-seekers to the region, the Western Cape Provincial Government and City of Cape Town directly place the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable residents at unconscionable risk of disaster.
More than 15 years after the national government commenced with the ill-fated N2 Gateway Project in Joe Slovo, Langa, a portion of the old densely populated informal settlement along the freeway remains. Most people who live there do not qualify for fully subsidised homes and therefore have little incentive to move further from town.
Here, living conditions are extremely dire with shockingly insufficient sanitation and water services. Residents still use the bucket system, and fire prevention or retardant measures don’t exist.
The trouble is, City and Provincial authorities have no policy and no plan to address the issue of residents of informal settlements who don’t qualify for free houses – not in Joe Slovo or any of the other diabolical shack-land ghettoes.
But it is not only informal settlements that are at risk.
When the Western Cape Government turned its back on its obligation and promises to develop affordable rental housing at the Tafelberg School site in Sea Point, choosing instead to sell the site, the abandoned Helen Bowden Nurses Home in the Waterfront precinct was occupied by housing activists.
That was more than 5 years ago. The Western Cape High Court reviewed and set aside the sale of the Tafelberg School, and confirmed the Western Cape Provincial Government and City of Cape Town’s constitutional obligation to fix the apartheid spatial plan of Cape Town.
The Province and the City are appealing this judgment and in particular, the order that they have a constitutional duty to incrementally address spatial integration!
In the meantime, acting with huge resentment, the Western Cape Provincial Government disconnected basic services to the old nurse’s home occupied by about 1000 adults and children.
When governments neglect the basic health and safety requirements of communal living there are inevitable consequences.
On a recent visit to the home (re-named Ahmed Kathrada House by the occupiers, I was invited to view the conditions in which the occupiers live. There is a repugnant smell of human waste that permeates the dark building.
Water and electricity supplies have been disconnected. Residents must resort to dangerous methods to cook, wash, read, study and live. It is a disaster waiting to happen.
The Western Cape Government must swallow its pride, zip up its resentment, and come to terms with the causes and effects of the occupation.
The occupiers are willing to engage with the government about the terms under which they would vacate the building. This includes a commitment to provide inner-city affordable housing for them to rent – which is exactly what the High Court ordered the Province and the City to do.
They are willing to pay for their electricity and water consumption while they are in occupation. And, they have repeatedly requested engagement with the Western Cape Provincial Government about the way forward.
Premier Alan Winde must stop sulking and demonstrate leadership, instead.