Residents of Lwandle are still homeless

The South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) is currently building 849 shacks in Lwandle where the eviction took place, replacing the shacks that were destroyed on 2 June.

The City of Cape Town and SANRAL decided to move the people back to Lwandle until new land can be prepared for them.

The Housing Development Agency (HDA) has employed unemployed people in Lwandle to build shacks in the area, generating employment.

In a joint statement on 12 June, the City of Cape Town, the Ses’khona People’s Rights Movement and the ward councillors, agreed that SANRAL must take responsibility for rebuilding the 849 shacks and that the City would provide 45 chemical toilets, which will be replaced by full flushing toilets within two months.

The City would also provide water standpipes and electricity.

Xolani Saziwa, who is on the community leadership committee in Lwandle, said SANRAL had agreed to provide each shack with a bed and flooring.

The shacks are built with zinc and have two windows and a wooden door. They are approximately six metres by three metres and they are built one metre away from each other.

Saziwa said he did not know how long it would take for construction to be completed. “There are times when there is a shortage of material. And to get the material it can take two to three days”, he said.

Asked about people’s belongings that were confiscated during the eviction, he said he was worried that their possessions might have been damaged.

“We know where our belongings are but we do not know the condition they are in.”

According to SANRAL the belongings have been stored in a business park near Lwandle.

“We asked people to write down the belongings that were confiscated and we will return them according to what they claim is theirs”, said Saziwa.

“But we are aware that people’s belongings got destroyed and some were broken. In reality we do not know how the belongings will be given back to the people.

“So I think that Sanral should provide people with new furniture.”

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille has said the people evicted from Lwandle, along with people from Solis Town, Greenfields, Poile, Wag ‘Bietjie and backyarders in Macassar will be moved to land in Macassar in November 2015. The sites will have water, sanitation and electricity.

Currently the evictees are still staying at the community hall where they have been for more than a month. One resident said living conditions were bad.

More than a month after their homes were destroyed, Lwandle residents are still living in a community hall. Photo by Pharie Sefali.

“There are heavily pregnant women who sleep on thin mattresses and have only one blanket to cover themselves with. And some children have chicken pox and they keep on getting sicker,” he said.

The hall is stuffy and crowded and there is no privacy. At night people are talking and during the day children are playing inside the hall.

According to Saziwa, last week nurses came to the hall to check on people and provide medication. Some of the residents had TB and other serious sickness, he said.