Marikana Settlement (Cape Town) opposing City’s interdict claiming the right to destroy homes

10 January 2014

Marikana Settlement (Cape Town) opposing City's interdict claiming the right to destroy homes

This morning, the Marikana Settlement in Philippi East will be asking for an urgent interdict from the City of Cape Town from illegally destroying people's homes in the settlement. In response, the City has begun to request their own interdict which at noon today, we will be opposing.

We will be mobilising and protesting outside the Cape High Court this morning. Supporters and media are urged to come to the Cape High Court from 11am onwards to support us.

We've proven before that the City has been destroying occupied homes. See our website here: http://marikanasettlement.net/

Also see investigations by the Daily Maverick here: http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2013-05-06-city-of-cape-town-makes-up-law-to-justify-eviction-of-the-poor/

Our interdict

On the 7th of January 2014, the City of Cape Town's notorious Anti-Land Invasion Unit came into the Marikana Land Occupation and without warning began demolishing peoples homes. Over the next couple days, they demolished 42 homes out of more than 100 seemingly at random. They destroyed the homes of some people who had lived in them for more than 5 months merely because they were still back visiting family in the Eastern Cape.

The Marikana Settlement, with the help of the Legal Resource Centre is filing an urgent interdict to prevent the City of Cape Town from destroying peoples homes in the settlement. Further, the interdict demands that the City of Cape Town rebuild all the homes they illegally demolished on the 7th and 8th of January.

Their interdict

The City of Cape Town has responded to our interdict with an interdict of their own – after cajoling the private landowner to join in the case. Theirs says that the occupiers should be legally prevented from building new structures on the property or re-erecting structures that were torn down. They also refuse to rebuild the homes that were illegally demolished on the 7th and 8th.

The City is unbiased. They can't be given the right to decide who to evict.

According to the Constitution and the PIE Act, government cannot evict anyone from their home. The problem is that the City is claiming the right to decide which homes are occupied and which are not. This is wrong because the City is a biased party and cannot arbitrate on the matter since they want all occupants evicted in the long run.

The result of the City deciding which homes to destroy, is that they lie and misconstrue the facts and claim that homes that have been occupied and lived in for months, are actually unoccupied structures.

Example: An elderly family was evicted on the 7th even though they have lived in that home since August! The City says that home was built on the 7th of January and was unoccupied. There needs to be an independent body to ensure that this abuse from the City stops.

The Marikana residents will therefore be opposing the City of Cape Town's interdict.

A luta continua

The Marikana residents will continue to defend their right to land and housing. These residents are being failed by government and the Constitution. They can't afford to live in this expensive city that does not provide adequate land and housing to residents. This is why they are forced to build shack settlements and occupy land. Until the government, local and national, institutes broad-based land redistribution (of land stolen from them during colonialism and apartheid), poor people from all over will continue to be forced to occupy land.

We, like thousands of landless all over the City, simply have no other option: occupy or die.

For more information contact:

Tumi @ 073 821 2410

Stanley @ 078 738 4765

Richard @ 074 306 9241

You may also contact the Legal Resource Centre at 021 481 3000

Attachments


Cape Argues: Homes Torn Down for the Third Time

Cape Argus: City Slammed Over Marikana Evictions