GOOD Statement by Jonathan Cupido,
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
26 July 2024
Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, needs to provide unequivocal assurance to Shelley Road residents that the City will not forge ahead with its unlawful attempt to evict them and sell their homes right from under their feet.
Late last month, the residents in Salt River received notices from the City informing them that their tenancy and leases would be terminated, due to the intention to sell the houses, and they had between 26th and 31st July 2024 to vacate.
In response to this, GOOD submitted a motion to Council demanding, among other things, that the letters be retracted, that no one would be evicted, and that homes would be transferred to those who qualify or offered to them at reduced market rates.
Since then, Mayoral Committee Member Carl Pophaim visited the Shelley Road residents, and made all of the above promises in person, in the presence of a GOOD councillor.
One would have expected that if they were sincere, these verbal promises would have been backed up by his DA caucus with a resolution in Council.
Yet, for some reason, the DA, as well as the ANC, voted against this motion that could have given the residents the necessary assurance. Without a resolution, the MMC’s promises were meaningless made by a politician without any authority.
Clearly, the DA is not committed to following through on the promises made in what can only be seen as bad faith.
The Mayor and the DA need to come forward and start acting and engage truthfully with the residents of Shelly Road and the City as a whole.
Media Enquiries:
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 073 367 1223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za
Jonathan Cupido, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
Cell: 084 865 8122
Email: jonathanc@forgood.org.za