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A hearty treat to eat Children were given a sweet treat at Blue Route Mall as Cupcakes for Hope celebrated national Cupcake Day last week. The team sold cupcakes to raise funds for children who have been diagnosed with cancer. Children from Butterfly Way Educare in Vrygrond re ceived free cupcakes and teddy bears from BuildABear. Logan Genever (right) from Steenberg was one of the first customers at Blue Route Mall last weekend. Along with her mom the young girl picked out cupcakes in support of national Cupcake Day. Cupcakes for Hope raised funds for children living with can cer. PHOTO: MONIQUE DUVAL
INFORMAL SETTLEMENT: COMMUNITY ANGRY
‘Rape’ shack demolished TAURIQ HASSEN
T
he Village Heights community are up in arms as news of the rape of a 21-yearold woman swept through the informal settlement. The incident occurred in a vacant shack which has been the bone of contention for residents. They claim to have made numerous requests to the City of Cape Town to have the shack demolished. It was eventually broken down on Sunday 22 September, a few hours after the incident had occurred. Community worker Aysha Davids says a number of requests were made to have the shack demolished, but the community received no responses from the City. “People are really angry in this communi-
ty, as we complained about this shack but nobody listened,” she says. “Now a (woman) has been raped, her life destroyed and only now does the City come forward and do what they were supposed to have done months ago.” Davids says Village Heights has a large number of shacks from which illegal shebeens, drug dens and prostitution rings operate. This, Davids says, has been communicated to the City. “Why must something ugly first happen before anybody listens to our people? If the City just did their job properly, they could have avoided this rape,” she says. But Mayoral Committee member for Human Settlements Tandeka Gqada explains the City would require a court order to de-
molish a structure, even if criminal activity is taking place. “If officials find a vacant structure, they will investigate to establish if there is an occupant who is perhaps on holiday, (in) hospital (or) out of town. Officials will then demolish the structure only if we have proof that it is vacant,” she says. Gqada claims the City’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU) had only received a request to remove the structure on Sunday 22 September. However, the unit was not responsible for demolishing the structure. If a vacant structure is found, the Informal Settlement Management (ISM) will alert the ALIU, which, in turn, will conduct an investigation. She says a community leader alerted the
ISM staff that the structure’s occupant was in the process of moving out the previous day (Saturday 21 September). Some furniture was still in the structure. “On Monday 23 September, an ALIU team was despatched to investigate,” Gqada says. “They subsequently found that the occupant had demolished the structure herself, earlier that morning.” Steenberg police spokesperson Constable Zodwa Kedama says the rape victim was on her way to a shop when one of the suspects grabbed her. She then was dragged into the vacant shack. “There were two other suspects inside the shack and they apparently threatened her, telling her they are all gangsters and would kill her if she resisted,” Kedama says. To page 3