Blikkiesdorp AEC Press Release
22 January 2009 at 11h30

Corruption and forced removals in Tin Can Town

According to the notorious Lodewyk “Loot” Petersen (photo) of the City’s Anti-Land Invasions Unit, the 21 families evicted from Blikkiesdorp two days ago are to have their belongings confiscated and put in some location far away in Milnerton. Lokewyk claims he has the permission of Mzwandile Sokupa, the City’s Informal Settlements Manager.

But these 21 homeless families are among Delft’s poorest. They have nowhere else to go. They slept out in front of Blikkiesdorp for the past two nights because they don’t have any other alternative.

The actions of Lokewyk Petersen and Jimmy Jacobs are clearly illegal. According to the SA Constitution and the PIE Act, you cannot evict anyone from their home (whether they are there formally or informally) without a court order. The City of Cape Town is getting away with a clear contempt for the rule of law.

And why are they being evicted from shacks built by the city? Isn’t Blikkiesdorp supposed to house homeless people? Why are there hundreds upon hundreds of shacks standing empty in Blikkiesdorp while these 21 families with children and even a two week old baby lie outside on the sand without food or water?

The 21 families and other residents in Blikkiesdorp think they know why. Many were seen yelling at Lodewyk yesterday: “where is my R200?” They say that Lodewyk has been illegally selling Blikkies in the TRA. Indeed, this is not just a rumour (remember the AEC reported these accusations over 1 year ago). Residents are certain of this and are calling for an independent investigation into the allocation of the shacks by Lodewyk and other City officials.

Its clear: Blikkiesdorp is not a place for Delft’s homeless. Its a place where the City can throw people they evict from their homes in Woodstock, Gugulethu and Belhar. Its where they can dump ‘unwanted’ foreign nationals. Its where they can hide people that live and work on the streets in Cape Town’s CBD just in time for the Word Cup.

Its no wonder that Dan Plato received a slap in the face last time he came to Blikkiesdorp.

For more info, contact:

Willy at 0731443619
Johan at 073 2772095
Marrieta at 0788345339

*** Media urged to rush to Blikkiesdorp to witness 60 people sleeping
outside having been evicted by the very same city officials who put them in ***

Blikkiesdorp Evictees Evicted Again

Blikkiesdorp, Delft, Cape Town
20 January 2010 at 8pm

At 4pm today, 48 law enforcement officers from the City of Cape Town invaded the city’s Temporary Relocation Area, Blikkiesdorp, and removed about 60 people from the one roomed dwellings.

This was done completely unlawfully without any high court eviction order, without any explanation, and even more inexplicably by the same city officials who installed the people in the first place.

Among the 60 evicted people are a pregnant woman, a few tiny babies and several primary school children. There is also one unaccompanied 17 year old minor girl who was put into Blikkiesdorp by the city officials – installed alone into a single dwelling – and then evicted again.

We are demanding an investigation into city officials Jimmy Jacobs and Lodewyk Petersen. They are the ones who bring people against their will to Blikkiesdorp and install them willy-nilly into the dwellings and they were also the ones who came today and led the eviction.

The families who get scooped up from under bridges and from derelict buildings and installed in the Tin Can Town are told by Jacobs and Petersen that they will be given “structure papers” later but clearly this is a pack of lies.

We are particularly concerned about the primary school children who were removed from their homes in the past by the city, forcibly moved to Delft where they had to begin at new and hostile schools, and now evicted to sleep outside for a night. The children’s belongings have been confiscated and put into a separate building by police which poses extra difficulties for them.

“This is a city-sponsored concentration camp so they feel they can do what they want here because there is no law” said Blikkiesdorp resident Willy Heyn.

For more information contact Willy Heyn, Blikkiesdorp AEC on
0731443619 or Johan Jordaan, Blikkiesdorp J Block Committee member on
073 2772095