SJC, NU and EE condemns Lwandle evictions

On 2 and 3 June 2014 a few hundred residents of Lwandle, near Strand in Cape Town, watched their homes being demolished by Sanral.

The Social Justice Coalition, Equal Education and Ndifuna Ukwazi have released a joint press statement condemning Sanral for evicting Lwandle residents who have been living on its property. Hundreds of Lwandle residents have been left destitute this winter, as they watched their homes being demolished.

According to the three organisations, no eviction order was ever granted by a court for the removal of these people. Rather, an Interim Interdict was granted on 24 January against those “intending to occupy” the land. It specifically excluded those “currently occupying the property at the date of the granting of this order”.

There’s been a lot of public outcry, from a humanitarian perspective that even though the affected people were occupying the land “illegally” (the land had been set aside for the construction of the N2 road), both the City of Cape Town and Sanral could have handled the evictions better. In response, the Minister of Transport, Ms Dipuo Peters paid a visit to Lwandle and apologised of behalf of Sanral. The Minister of Human Settlements, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu also visited the community of Lwandle and agreed that the matter could have been handled differently, especially because of the harsh winter condition in Cape Town and that most school children were still writing their exams.

Although the opening of the community hall by the City, and the provision of food and blankets by Disaster Relief were welcomed, the organisations are appealing to the City to provide emergency accommodation to affected residents. Equal Education also called for members of society to donate any non-perishable food, water resistant clothes or anything else that the families could need.

Donations can be dropped off at:

The Bookery at Plein Park Building Plein Street Cape Town CBD (021) 461 4189

For further information please contact:

Dustin Kramer (SJC Deputy Gen Sec) 083 674 0552 Nishal Robb (EE Head of Campaigns) 079 511 6790 Axolile Notywala (SJC Project Manager) 074 386 1584 Nombulelo Nyathela (EE Spokesperson) 060 503 4933