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TUESDAY 9 February 2021 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
Hundreds of people have been living at Woodstock Hospital, renamed Cissie Gool House, since March 2017. PHOTO: KAYLYNNE BANTOM
WOODSTOCK
Group queries ‘U-turn’ KAYLYNNE BANTOM KAYLYNNE.BANTOM@MEDIA24.COM
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undreds of people who have been living at Cissie Gool House, Woodstock, say it has been four years since the City of Cape Town announced it would release 11 parcels of public land for the development of social housing, but nothing has materialised. The group forms part of Reclaim the City, a movement which aims to ensure people have decent and affordable housing. Karen Hendricks, Woodstock Reclaim the City chapter leader, says there are 1 400 people living in the old Woodstock Hospital. They moved there in March 2017 after they were evicted from their homes (“Hospital now turned to home,” People’s Post, 29 January 2019). Another group has also been living in the Ahmed Kathrada House in Green Point.
Cape Town mayor Dan Plato recently announced that the City was moving forward with plans to develop social housing at Woodstock Hospital (renamed Cissie Gool House) by asking the Western Cape High Court to order a survey of illegal occupants. “The 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,” the City media statement released on Tuesday 2 February read. In a subsequent media statement released two days later, Plato said it was hoped that people would move from the property voluntarily because development of social housing at Woodstock Hospital was not possible unless all illegal occupants vacate the site. “If needs be, the City will pursue eviction proceedings subject to lockdown regulations,” the statement read. But Hendricks claims the City is trying to criminalise them by shifting blame for the
City’s own failure toward the poor and working-class people whom it is meant to serve. “Rather than preventing social housing from being delivered, we have been calling on the City and the province to develop social and affordable housing on well-located public land in (the) central city for years. However, the City has continued to resist these claims.” Plato stated the surrounding community deserved an urgent end to the constant breach of the City’s by-laws and other crime at the property. He said this had necessitated an increased law enforcement presence in addition to the unsustainable R400 000 security cost each month. But Hendricks says the deployment of the law enforcement officials is unnecessary. “We are not criminals. That is the picture the City is trying to paint. We are not land hijackers. Most of us have been on the City’s housing database for many years.” Hendricks says all they want is for the City to engage with them to reach a solution.
“The occupants in Cissie Gool House and Ahmed Kathrada House have built a refuge and community for residents who have been living in these areas for decades, with as little dependency on the City as possible. Many families from all walks of life have found safety, security and a place to call home.” The City said it was driving over 2 000 affordable housing opportunities already in the construction phase in and near urban centres across the Metro, besides the 700 units planned for Woodstock Hospital. Hendricks says they have always been ready to engage with the City on the question of what should happen to the families living in the occupations and ask to be part of a solution to protect housing rights and allow them to remain in place. “This process was welcomed by City officials and led to various joint engagements intended at co-designing Cissie Gool House. Why is the City now turning around and choosing to evict rather than consider these alternative solutions,” asks Hendricks.