Housing
Evicted student: All I could save was my backpack and ID
The only things college student Sisanda Mbayi could save before her shack was demolished last month were her backpack and ID, the ministerial inquiry into the Nomzamo (Lwandle) evictions heard yesterday.
Barbara Maregele
News | 1 August 2014
Evicted resident breaks down at Lwandle inquiry
Xoliswa Masakala broke into tears at the ministerial inquiry into the Lwandle evictions today as she was asked to comment on two pictures of herself which were published in the media. In one of the pictures, she is seen with her breasts and upper body completely exposed and the rest of her clothes appear torn.
Barbara Maregele
News | 29 July 2014
Montagu family on brink of losing home
Darkness falls on the Koo valley. Andries Joostenberg, 63, and his son hang up their axes, stack the last logs of cut wood and trudge indoors. The temperature drops. In the farm cottage's kitchen a family huddles in semi-darkness around a wood stove. The electricity has been cut, so too the water: final instalments in a siege designed to drive Andries off the land.
Daneel Knoetze
Feature | 25 July 2014
Makhaza’s shoddily built houses
Zone 14 residents in Makhaza are worried about the shoddy building of houses managed by the Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT). This has prompted the provincial Human Settlements Department to investigate after receiving numerous complaints.
Mary-Anne Gontsana
News | 23 July 2014
SANRAL says City of Cape Town was involved in the eviction of displaced Nomzamo residents
Nomzamo informal settlement residents would have been relocated to new land years ago had the City of Cape Town not withdrawn from negotiations in 2011, attorneys for the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) told the Lwandle Inquiry yesterday.
Barbara Maregele
News | 23 July 2014
Premier called “racist girl” as tensions flare at Lwandle inquiry
Tensions flared during the second half of the Lwandle inquiry yesterday after Ses’khona leader Loyiso Nkohla referred to Western Cape Premier Helen Zille as a “racist girl”. The remark prompted an infuriated DA staffer, Jamie Turkington, to interject during Nkohla’s presentation.
Barbara Maregele
News | 22 July 2014
Ward councilor sheds light on the history of evicted Nomazo residents
A Nomzamo ward councillor told the ministerial inquiry into the Lwandle evictions how he cautioned a group of backyarders, who were tired of “unfulfilled promises” by the City of Cape Town, against settling on land owned by the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL).
Barbara Maregele
News | 22 July 2014
Shacks in Masiphumelele wetland area drenched
The Masiphumele informal settlement in Fish Hoek was flooded on Thursday by heavy rains.
Zintle Swana
News | 21 July 2014
Ses’khona and ANC councillor accused of hijacking City disaster relief
Some Lwandle residents have accused Ses’khona and ANC city councillor JJ Maxheke of keeping food and other disaster relief material supplied by the City of Cape Town for Ses’khona members.
Pharie Sefali and Alide Dasnois
News | 17 July 2014