MPs condemn unsafe living conditions at occupied Cape Town building

The Helen Bowden Nurses Home, renamed Ahmed Kathrada House by housing activists, is home to about 800 people. It is a stone’s throw from the V&A Waterfront. Photos: Matthew Hirsch

Members of Parliament conducted an oversight visit to Helen Bowden Nurses Home on Friday, which was unlawfully occupied in 2017 as part of a campaign for affordable housing near Cape Town’s inner city. The building had been vacant for several years.

Residents of the home, renamed Ahmed Kathrada House by activists, told MPs that although they face unsafe living conditions and don’t have electricity, they want to stay there because it is located close to job opportunities.

The visit by members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements was in response to requests by housing movement Reclaim the City. Some of the MPs had also attended a conference hosted by housing advocacy group Ndifuna Ukwazi earlier this year, further prompting them to visit the site.

The property is owned by the Western Cape Government, which plans to build a mixed-use development which will include affordable housing. But the government says the current residents would first have to be evicted and the building demolished.

Members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements meet with residents.

Nozi Sigwela, a researcher at Ndifuna Ukwazi, said there were more than 430 households and about 800 people living in the building. She added that most residents were single mothers, children and elderly people.

Resident Thandi Tyalana said she has found work opportunities because the property is in a well-located area. “I hit rock bottom. I found refuge here,” she said. “We are not criminals. Go and tell them that you’ve met great people here; these people work. We just find ourselves in unfortunate situations.”

One of the rooms at Helen Bowden Nurses Home.

Reclaim the City leader Megan Bobotyana said, “We are also taxpayers. We also contribute to the economy of South Africa, and therefore, we should be treated as such. We’ve never said that we want this building for free.”

Bobotyana said the property can be developed without demolishing the building and displacing the current residents. Architects and town planners have been engaged on this, she said. “We’ve got documents to prove that we’ve done our research. This can be done on this site.”

“People are clear that they don’t want to leave here. We want to live here. We want this place developed. That’s all we want,” she added.

But residents also spoke about how they often feel unsafe because there is no electricity, especially when they have to go outside at night to use mobile toilets and communal taps.

They also spoke about how SAPS were slow to respond to incidents at the building.

Solar-powered flood lights are used to light up the quad at night. Electricity was cut off soon after the occupation in 2017.

Committee chair Nocks Seabi (ANC) told residents that they were there to learn, and wanted further engagements with parties involved.

Walking through the occupation, MPs were shown people’s rooms, vegetable gardens and even a spaza shop. They also went outside to see the mobile toilets and communal taps shared by the 800 residents.

There are only ten toilets shared by the building’s 800 occupants.

Speaking to GroundUp after the site visit, Seabi said: “We thought it was important to come and see for ourselves … What we found is that people are living in horrible conditions. They are using communal taps and (mobile) toilets. It is not a healthy situation.”

He said he will request the national Minister of Human Settlements to arrange a meeting with the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government.

“The committee has long advocated for spatial redress, especially in the context of the cost of proximity to economic, work opportunities and spatial transformation. Despite this, the committee doesn’t encourage illegality, but constructive interaction to find resolutions to shortcomings,” Seabi said in a statement.

The communal taps break easily, residents told MPs.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast