Grassy Park community resisting third forced removal by Cape Town City Council

Press Release

10am

Wednesday 22 November 2006

(For comment, please contact Eleanor Hoedemaker of the
Zille Rain Heights Residents Association on 072 4490436)

CAPE TOWN – A Grassy Park community of 300 forcibly removed
people has come under attack once again from the Cape Town
City's Zille administration.

DA Mayor Helen Zille forcibly removed the shack dwelling
community from Lake Road, Grassy Park on 19th March 2006,
almost immediately after taking office, in a huge police
operation. She dumped the long-time Grassy Park residents
on a piece of land on the corner of Klip and Acacia Roads.

Residents were given a few poles, a few pieces of plastic
and some nails and told to erect houses for themselves!
Since human beings cannot live under plastic, the residents
were forced to forage for bits of wood to build shacks, and
some managed to get wendy houses to live in.

Zille promised the residents that permanent housing would
be found for them.

Eleanor Hoedemaker of the Zille Rain Heights Residents
Association says that "Zille promised us she would never
move us beyond the boundaries of Grassy Park. We have over
100 children in schools here, our churches are here and our
whole lives are here".

Between March and now, the community has never seen or
heard from Mayor Zille again. They have not once been
visited by their councillor, Jan Burger from the DA. They
have been forced to survive without basic services, having
only two standpipe taps and 14 portable plastic toilets.
So, the community was shocked recently to receive eviction
orders, ordering them off the land where they are currently
living.

The community has been summoned to answer to the eviction
orders on 8th December in the Cape Town High Court. They
intend to protest outside the court.

The community reports that just before receiving the
eviction orders, a Cape Town city official tried to force
them to move to the notorious "Happy Valley" wasteland,
located between Mfuleni and Blackheath, about 35 kms from
the city centre and 1.5 hours walk from the nearest train
station. The Cape Town Anti-War Coalition has visited Happy
Valley before with the Gympie Street residents committee
when the DA was trying to force those residents to move
there. Happy Valley is an utter wasteland – a dust bowl
with not one service in the form of water, electricity,
sewerage, clinics or schools. Residents from other
communities who were tricked by the Council into moving
there have voiced strong objections to the abject
circumstances they now find themselves living in.

The Cape Town Anti-War Coalition condemns in the strongest
terms the latest eviction orders meted out to the Zille
Rain Heights Residents Association, and joins the residents
in demanding that they be housed in decent brick houses in
the Grassy Park area.

…/ends
For comment, please contact Eleanor Hoedemaker of the Zille
Rain Heights Residents Association on 072 4490436