Cape Town - A Manenberg social movement group has criticised Human Settlements Mayco member Malusi Booi after he stood up to residents who received eviction notices but failed to attend a meeting with them on Saturday.
Last month, the City issued 285 eviction notices to residents in areas such as Manenberg, Macassar and Bishop Lavis who are said to be illegally occupying its rental units. It gave them 31 days to vacate the units.
Tjatjies Samekoms administrator, Gatto (formerly Mario Wanza), said that at their first meeting on June 23, Booi had committed to meet them again on July 9, when he was expected to provide feedback about their concerns.
“Our concerns were mostly about the eviction notices that were issued, how they were issued, and the apology for the way they have treated our people. For us, it’s a major concern that the City would issue an eviction notice instead of engaging with the people to solve the problem, and later fail to pitch up,” he said.
Gatto said the group had reached out to the national government, SA Human Rights Commission, and opposition parties in the city to intervene.
“This leaves a question mark as we don’t have consensus as to the way forward. People are still living in fear because how the City conducts itself instils fear in people through the use of law enforcement to serve notices.
“The only way we can get rid of that trauma is through the City and the people working together as one,” he said.
Gatto said although there had been some positive developments in which some of the notices had been withdrawn and the tenants granted tenancy, he said the other issue was that the City said people violated the housing allocation policy.
Booi said the City remained committed to assisting and responding to affected residents and would engage with them this week.
Booi urged residents who had been identified as unlawfully occupying City units to visit their local housing office to be considered for normalisation.
“We will continue to provide clarity and guidance to residents where it is required. Our teams also continue to evaluate cases which have been flagged as unlawful occupation, and we will ensure that the rightful occupants are assisted,” he said.