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Sisulu urges police to arrest land invaders

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Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has called on police to arrest any opportunists who use the ban on evictions during the coronavirus lockdown to invade vacant pieces of land.

Last week, the High Court in Cape Town ruled that the eviction of more than 100  residents from Empolweni, at Makhaza in Khayelitsha, was unlawful and ordered the City to return the confiscated building materials.

The High Court, however, ruled that any further building of shacks on the land is not allowed. Sisulu says further unlawful land invasions will undermine the progress the country has made over the past few weeks to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Human Settlements Minister on Monday visited the Du Noon informal settlement, in Cape Town, to assess the area’s readiness for  the so called “re-blocking”, should the need arise.

Around 1 000 households could be moved to state-owned land. Sisulu says the re-blocking, which will make the area less dense, is aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.

“The MEC wanted to show me, together with HDA (Housing Development Agency), the place that we have acquired that will make it possible for us to be able to re-block this informal settlement called Du Noon. It’s long overdue and I’m glad that we are going to do it. My emphasis has been when when when, so that so that when we give out the information we give hope to our people that we are working day and night to make their lives a little better ,” Sisulu said during the visit where she was joined by representatives from the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements.

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