Four held as land unit acts against invaders
The Anti-Land Invasion Unit dismantled the homes of the backyard dwellers of Parkwood Estate, who are left destitute.
|||Cape Town - A total of 63 families were left homeless and four people arrested when the City’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) demolished structures erected on an open field in Parkwood Estate, near Grassy Park, on Tuesday.
The unit removed some pegs used to mark plots, where people intended to build structures.
Residents retaliated by stoning the police and blocking roads by burning tyres.
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said stun gre-nades and rubber bullets were used to disperse the crowd.
She said no injuries were reported.
Parkwood resident Leonard Crowley said the people whose structures were demolished were backyarders who had started building on Sunday, after it was decided in a community meeting the previous night to build on the open land.
He said the community was angry about the unit demolishing the structures and they had vowed to continue building.
Crowley said a number of people were injured by the rubber bullets the police fired.
Antonio Adams, 33, whose structure was demolished, said he used to sleep with his wife at his parents’ home, but it was now overcrowded.
Adams, who had already been staying on the open field with two of his children since Sunday, said alternative accommodation should have been provided for the affected families.
“I sleep on the floor at my parents’ house and need a place of my own which my children can call home,” Adams said.
“We have been asking the City to identify land for us to build houses, but our pleas fell on deaf ears. We are not going to step back, but keep on rebuilding.”
He added that a major worry was his building material, which cost him a lot of money.
But Mayco member for human settlements Benedicta van Minnen said the land invasion unit “had to act to protect land”.
Van Minnen said the backyarders were warned on Sunday that they were acting unlawfully and that they should take down the structures.
She said City officials had engaged with the backyarders again on Monday morning, warning them to refrain from erecting illegal structures.
However, the group refused and their structures were still in place on Tuesday morning.
When the unit removed the structures on Tuesday, Van Minnen said the community reacted with violence and aggression.
Van Minnen said a group of about 200 residents threw stones at the officials and police before burning tyres on the road.
“The City will continue to monitor the area and take all necessary precautions to prevent further illegal land invasions,” said Van Minnen.
She said the invasion of land resulted, among others, in poor access to City services, continual flooding and high crime rates.
Rwexana said four men – aged 24, 27, 29 and 30 – were arrested and are expected to appear at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on charges of public violence.
sandiso.phaliso@inl.co.za
@PhalisoSandiso
Cape Times