Humanitarian group, Gift of the Givers and the Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, have visited the Empolweni informal settlement in Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats. That’s after the High Court on Friday ruled that 320 people evicted from the area over the Easter weekend can return.
Gift of the Givers Project Manager, Ali Sablay says the court ruled in favour of the evicted people.
“The court ruled that they have to be in an environment where they can seek shelter. Of course, we know everyone’s under lockdown. The community halls are closed down and the immediate solution was if we can provide them with some tents. And of course, for the women and children, especially at least they can have a cover over their heads, as we’ve seen how they’ve been sleeping every night out in the open,” says Sablay.
I drove to Cape Town a few days ago to attend to the matter.
Yesterday, we received a court ruling on the matter – the court ruled in favour of 49 of the evicted families. https://t.co/LlAnpv4FnU
— Lindiwe Sisulu (@LindiweSisuluSA) April 18, 2020
In this video below Gift of the Givers prepare to distribute 100 thousand food parcels:
Sisulu concerned about residents no adhering to lockdown regulations:
Sisulu says she is concerned that the City of Cape Town did not adhere to the stipulated regulations when it evicted people during the national lockdown. She has welcomed the ruling of the High Court in Cape Town, which suspended the evictions.
Rights group, the Legal Resources Centre, this week took the city authorities to court following the Easter weekend evictions and dismantling of informal housing structures in Mpolweni in Khayelitsha.
The city has been ordered to return all the building material of the dwellers by midday on Monday. The residents will now be allowed to return to the land and re-erect their dwellings.
Sisulu says she is happy that justice has been served.
“I’m very happy because I do not understand why it is that national regulations are not followed. We passed national regulations some time back saying that there shall be no evictions of people. I’ve been following this case for some time and getting conflicting reports about exactly what is going on, but of course, it was of concern to everybody. It’s of concern to me as a Minister of Human Settlements that people should be evicted in the middle of a lockdown.”
In the video below, City of Cape Town acts against the occupation of vacant land in Khayelitsha:
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