Mayor hands over keys to rightful Belhar-Pentech beneficiaries after hijackings

01 July 2025

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has handed over the keys to lawful beneficiaries of the City’s Belhar-Pentech housing project after a four-year court process to evict unlawful occupants who staged an eleventh-hour hijacking of completed units the night before handover on 16 May 2021. The Mayor was joined by Councillor Carl Pophaim, Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements on 27 June.

Belhar-Pentech is a Breaking New Ground City housing development of 340 state-subsidised units aimed at the metro's most vulnerable residents. To date, 332 units have been handed over to lawful beneficiaries, with the remaining eight hijacked units subject to a protracted court eviction process.

‘This situation was brought to my attention shortly after I took office in 2021, and my office immediately launched eviction proceedings. Over four years of court delays, the legal system unwittingly permitted the grave injustice of the illegal hijacking of these homes.

‘It has been a long journey in the court, but we won, and we are overjoyed to hand the rightful beneficiaries their keys to these dignified homes. All of us were emotional seeing Oom Karel stepping into his first home and how he couldn’t wait to have a hot bath, and Uncle Errol who lives in one room, now lives in a home with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a lounge and a bathroom,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.

The hijacking was led by people already living in the area, who relocated from their homes elsewhere in the neighbourhood to seize these new homes. The matter was delayed several times by the unlawful occupants for various reasons, including last minute changes to their legal counsel, failure to secure legal representation despite extensive notice and a lengthy delay due to a newly-appointed lawyer not being familiar with the case.

‘The City’s R44,2m Belhar-Pentech project was constructed between February 2018 to December 2023 with a total of 340 units delivered. Almost all units have long been occupied and we were relieved to reclaim the eight unlawfully occupied units via a court order in September 2024 and subsequent appeal order in February 2025. The City pointed out to the court that unlawful occupants had already been living in homes in the area, and to the extent required housing kits were offered to those evicted.

‘The City is calling on communities, tenants and neighbourhoods to help us prevent criminal activities and unlawful occupation in our rental and subsidy units. See something, say something is our campaign call to action – if we work together we can create safer communities,’ said Councillor Pophaim.

See something, say something
Report crime and unlawful occupation to 021 480 7700

Caption:
Photo 1: Councillor Pophaim, Mr Moosa Abrahams and Mayor Hill-Lewis
Photo 2: Karel Juries
Photo 3:  Mayor Hill-Lewis, Karel Juries and Councillor Pophaim
 
 
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office