Blikkiesdorp residents march to the Mayor’s office demanding to know when they will be moved.
Photo: Ashleigh Furlong
26 April 2016
Blikkiesdorp residents marched to Mayor Patricia De Lille’s office this morning demanding to know when they will be relocated and to where.
About 80 protesters marched to the Civic Centre chanting slogans such as “Blikkiesdorp must fall” and “We want houses” while holding placards reading “Nou is ons gatvol”, “How long must we still wait” and “The City don’t work for Blikkies”.
Etienne Claasen of the Blikkiesdorp Joint Committee said that neither De Lille nor Premier Helen Zille had ever come to the temporary relocation area to engage with the residents.
“She [De Lille] must explain to us what is going to happen to Blikkiesdorp,” said Claasen.
He said Blikkiesdorp residents could not be expected to move from one temporary relocation area (TRA) to another.
“What is actually the real plan of the City? We want a meeting with her [De Lille] and she must come and speak to our community and inform them what is the plan for Blikkiesdorp. We can’t wait another seven years,” he said, referring to projections that it could take up to seven years until the relocation plans are finalised.
Blikkiesdorp was constructed nine years ago and borders the Cape Town International Airport. The Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) is planning to upgrade the airport and in a report that ACSA commissioned it states that Blikkiesdorp, along with neighbouring Freedom Farm and Malawi Camp, “will be relocated due to safety concerns, irrespective of whether the runway is re-aligned or not.”
In a more recent discussion between ACSA and Blikkiesdorp, ACSA told the residents that Blikkiesdorp did not need to be relocated in order for the airport’s upgrading to begin. Despite this, it appears that it is not a question of whether Blikkiesdorp will be relocated, but when.
According to a Memorandum of Agreement between ACSA and the City, some Blikkiesdorp residents are possibly set to be moved to land to be made available on Symphony Way, where 2,738 housing units will be built.
At the march today, Claasen questioned how many residents of Blikkiesdorp could be relocated into these housing units, since residents from Freedom Farm and Malawi Camp would also have to be relocated. There is also the question of what will happen to those who do not qualify for housing.
Claasen also said that residents of Blikkiesdorp had been kept in the dark about many of these plans and that only recently had ACSA promised to update them regularly.
Jane Roberts, who is also on the Joint Committee, has lived in Blikkiesdorp for seven years after being evicted from the pavement in Symphony Way.
“We want to move but into houses, not a similar thing like the TRA,” said Roberts when asked whether she was willing to move out of Blikkiesdorp.
Roberts said that Blikkiesdorp was very noisy and that in the area where they would possibly be moved, noise would still be a concern.
She added that in Blikkiesdorp four families were using one toilet and one tap. “When it rains, it’s bad. The sewerage overflows,” she said.
When protesters arrived at the Civic Centre they demanded to be addressed by De Lille but were instead met by the City’s Wilfred Solomons-Johannes. The residents threatened that if the mayor did not come to have a meeting with the residents within 21 days, they would sleep outside the Civic Centre.
Solomons-Johannes refused to address the crowd, except to say that the City would respond in seven days. But he spoke to journalists.
He said there were criteria in terms of the housing allocation policy and “people cannot just do a queue jumping because they have been provided with emergency shelter”.
“The City of Cape Town has provided basic municipal services to the people and in that regard we are above the national government average in providing services to the people. Their demands and claims that we are not engaging with them – it is untrue,” he said, naming the various engagements that the City had undertaken with the residents.
“Their issue is that they want houses, but unfortunately people must qualify in terms of housing criteria… Many of the people who are there do not qualify,” he said.
Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements Benedicta van Minnen told GroundUp in an emailed response that “the moment that there is clarity about the way ahead, an extensive engagement will take place”.
“Any future plans are linked to the outcome of the Airports Company of South Africa’s (ACSA) processes… The City has emphasised that it foresees that qualifying households will eventually be rehoused on residential land located to the west and east of Symphony Way. There are no details at this stage and none are available.”
As for those who are not on housing lists, Van Minnen said: “The City encourages residents who are not registered to apply to the City to see whether they qualify for a housing opportunity.”