Cape Town - Mau-Mau residents in Nyanga have accused the City of Cape Town of trying to displace them from their homes.
The City has issued 160 eviction notices and is in the process of obtaining an eviction order against the residents who illegally occupied incomplete houses in the Mau-Mau housing project in Nyanga.
Meanwhile, a stone’s throw away from the housing development, residents who, according to the City. illegally occupied its rental units have also received eviction notices.
The Nyanga backyard dwellers occupied the incomplete structures in the delayed housing project after purchasing their windows, doors and roofs and completed the structures, with water and electricity connections.
The Mau-Mau housing project commenced in January 2018 to yield 434 units. It was expected to be completed in 15 months but this goal was marred with delays after both contractors experienced cash-flow challenges.
Human settlements Mayco member Malusi Booi said the City had undertaken surveys of the invaded units and also had information, such as the Housing Subsidy System, which he said was utilised to determine the correct beneficiaries for each unit.
Booi said the bulk of the occupation took place when one contractor abandoned the site early in 2019 and left the units unsecured and vulnerable. He said that since then, the City had obtained a court interdict to enable its law enforcement officers to take appropriate action and this stopped further occupation.
He said all the contractors in the project committed to return to the site on June 24 and when they receive additional funding, no further impediments to progress were expected.
He said the Mau-Mau contractor resumed work as promised, and completed and delivered 15 houses on July 15.
The occupiers’ leader, Simphiwe Mayekiso, said out of frustration the residents occupied the structures after they noticed that they were vandalised. He said the project had been delayed by more than two years.
“We are beneficiaries of this housing project as we have been on the housing database for years. What we have noticed is that in most of the Nyanga housing projects the residents do not benefit, but are are given to people from somewhere.
“Local leaders that are responsible for housing developments in the area are lacking. We want 100% of beneficiaries of this project to be residents from Nyanga as this we believe is the last housing project in Nyanga,” he said.
One of the residents, Mphumzi Billie, who occupied a rental unit and received the notice said the residents had renovated the units and for the City to evict them was unfair.
Booi said in several cases beneficiaries approved for the project had occupied units and in such cases may be accommodated as they already form part of the project.