Woodstock Hospital: Correction of distorted Cape Argus report
04 March 2021
Statement by The City's Mayoral Committe Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi
City of Cape Town officials tasked with documenting damaged infrastructure at the illegally occupied Woodstock Hospital site on Tuesday 2 March 2021, were intimidated into leaving by illegal occupants. The City is following the correct legal route to drive social housing development at the property, but a coordinated invasion of the site in March 2017 by Ndifuna Ukwazi’s ‘Reclaim the City’ campaign has become a major obstacle to progress.
The City has an urgent objective to develop social housing at Woodstock Hospital and has the right as landowner to document the extent of infrastructure damage at the property, as officials of the Metro Police Camera Unit attempted to do earlier this week.
Today the Cape Argus fabricates a claim that these officials ‘stormed’ the site, as part of ongoing attempts by this newspaper to distort the facts around the illegal occupation and the City’s attempts to uphold the Rule of Law and drive constitutional, lawful housing processes.
As the property owner, it is not unusual for City officials to visit the site for various reasons including to view damaged infrastructure, conduct health, safety and environmental assessments, and respond to complaints from the surrounding community about by-law infringements emanating from the property.
The City is currently applying for a court-ordered survey, which is needed to determine the number of illegal occupants, their identities, monthly income, eligibility for State-subsidised housing, and willingness to vacate the property so that social housing plans are not further delayed.
The survey will provide a lawful basis of engagement with illegal occupiers, and the City is following the correct legal route in this regard.
A previous attempt to conduct a socio-economic survey was blocked by illegal occupants, as recorded in the minutes of a meeting with Ndifuna Ukwazi Co-Director Jared Rossouw and others at the property.
Illegal occupants and legal advisors CALS and Ndifuna Ukwazi are formally opposing the City’s application for a survey, incorrectly claiming that the personal information the City is seeking from illegal occupants does not align with the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act. This claim is completely without merit and the City will file an affidavit with the court to this effect.
The matter is urgent as the City is able to proceed with social housing building plan submissions within a short timeframe due to favourable zoning and rights on the property subject to any heritage requirements. The surrounding community also deserves an urgent end to the constant breach of the City’s by-laws and other crime at the Woodstock Hospital site, which has necessitated an increased law enforcement presence and security measures.
Only lawful and constitutional means can be used to allocate the estimated 700 social housing units the City intends to build at Woodstock Hospital, and development cannot begin until the illegal occupants vacate the site.
It is hoped that people will move from the property voluntarily. If need be, the City will pursue eviction proceedings subject to lockdown regulations and all due process will be followed.
The toxic legacy of Ndifuna Ukwazi’s ‘Reclaim the City’ unlawful occupation campaign has become a major obstacle to social housing at two well-located sites in central Cape Town.
Following government’s announcement of social housing plans for these properties, Ndifuna Ukwazi staged an organised invasion in March 2017, with subsequent calls to “sustain and build” the occupation.
For four years, this illegal act has stalled social housing developments at both the City-owned Woodstock Hospital site and the Helen Bowden property near the V&A Waterfront, owned by the Western Cape Government (WCG).
It was initially claimed to be a ‘symbolic’ occupation, but has spiralled out of control. In October 2018, the Western Cape High Court granted an order interdicting and restraining Reclaim the City from “inciting persons to enter or be upon the property for the purpose of unlawfully occupying or invading”.
In contempt of this order, the number of unlawful occupiers has increased substantially, along with reports of criminality, rent extortion rackets, violence and mob activity to the detriment of the surrounding community.
RTC is not an “organic movement” as claimed, but an organised building hijacking effort initiated by Ndifuna Ukwazi and other NPOs in the same stable. The purpose was to derail constitutional social housing development and fair allocation of opportunities. The City is now acting within the law to correct this illegal act and drive social housing development.
Illegal occupations cannot be equated with activism, and cannot be condoned under any circumstances given that the entire public housing programme hinges on protecting land from unlawful occupation, with projects worth R1,3 billion currently under threat.
The City goes to great lengths to protect land earmarked for the development goals of Cape Town and cannot afford to have groupings in society who promote illegal occupation of land and buildings or coordinate invasion in attempts to control housing allocation outside of the law.
All role-players must actively discourage attempts to illegally occupy land. We owe this not only to ourselves as residents of a growing city, but also to future generations who will require land for schools, hospitals, housing, transport infrastructure and community facilities.
End
Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
