Woodstock hospital: Court ordered survey is the correct legal solution
04 February 2021
The City of Cape Town has reiterated that a court-ordered survey is the correct legal route to drive social housing development at Woodstock Hospital following an indication from illegal occupants that they are willing to be part of a solution. Read more below:
A court-ordered survey 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.
It is hoped that people will move from the property voluntarily because development of social housing at Woodstock Hospital is not possible unless all illegal occupants vacate the site. If needs be, the City will pursue eviction proceedings subject to lockdown regulations.
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 property, which has necessitated an increased law enforcement presence in addition to the unsustainable R400 000 security cost each month.
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.
Ndifuna Ukwazi’s Reclaim the City (RTC) campaign coordinated illegal land invasions in March 2017, including calls on social media to meet at these properties and resist police efforts to stop the invasion. This was followed by calls to “sustain and build” the occupation.
The toxic legacy of Ndifuna Ukwazi’s organised land invasions is the biggest obstacle to social housing on well-located sites in central Cape Town, stalling development of both the City-owned Woodstock Hospital site and the Helen Bowden property near the V&A Waterfront, owned by the Western Cape Government (WCG).
This is in line with the RTC Constitution, which includes an explicit intent to invade property and a clear objective to “support the expropriation of property, which aligns with the vision, objectives, principles, and values of Reclaim the City”. Instructions on how to then manage an unlawful occupation are detailed, including the election of leadership structures (called a “Chapter” or “Committee”) to preside over the invaded property, which is termed a “House”.
‘RTC is not an “organic movement” as claimed, but an organised building hijacking effort by Ndifuna Ukwazi and other NGOs in the same stable. This was an illegal act aimed at derailing constitutional social housing development and fair allocation of opportunities. Illegal occupations cannot be equated with activism. It was initially claimed to be a ‘symbolic’ occupation, but has spiralled out of control. The City will stand up for the rule of law as a means to keep driving well-located social housing projects in line with our new human settlements strategy,’ said Executive Mayor Dan Plato.
In October 2018, the 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.
Law Enforcement presence has increased to a four-shift deployment given the significant manpower needed to ensure compliance with its by-laws and to guard against criminal activities.
‘There are no circumstances under which land invasion can be condoned. The entire public housing programme hinges on protecting land from invasion, with projects worth R1.3 billion currently under threat.
The City goes to great lengths, at great cost, to protect land and cannot afford to have groupings in society who promote land invasions.
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,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Malusi Booi.
Over 2000 affordable housing opportunities under construction
The City is currently driving over 2 000 affordable housing opportunities already in the construction phase in and near urban centres across the metro, besides the estimated 700 units planned for Woodstock Hospital.
Several other well-located City projects in Woodstock are set for major milestones this year, with a projected total of around 620 social housing units. Pine Road is due to break ground, Dillon Lane is at development application stage, and Salt River Market is now just months away from handover to a social housing developer.
The Newmarket Street site (444 units projected yield) is also in the pipeline for social housing, with a short term lease on the property contributing to upkeep and security in the interim.
The City and WCG are together driving the innovative Conradie Better Living Model (BLM) development (3 600 units total) in Pinelands, an inner city feeder suburb. Similar collaboration has succeeded in Belhar CBD (4 000 units total) where an affordable community context is being created around key education institutions.
In District Six, the City is hosting extensive engagements with residents on a Local Spatial Development Framework, and the WCG has already built the District Six CDC healthcare facility, anticipating the return of thousands of beneficiaries to the CBD via the National Government-led restitution process.
But social housing could be derailed at Woodstock Hospital if the Ndifuna Ukwazi enabled occupants refuse to vacate and the necessary high court orders are not granted.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
