City responds to Minister Sisulu's statements on Lwandle

I have written to the National Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, today confirming that the City of Cape Town, as a caring city, is ready and prepared to provide emergency housing kits to residents affected by the Lwandle evictions. Cape Town is the only metro in South Africa to have developed enhanced kits of this nature and that is able to deploy them at short notice.

In my letter to the Minister, I have noted a discussion I had with her late yesterday, confirming that the national government will cover the costs of the approximately 235 kits that will be made available. The City has to be compliant with all legislation impacting on local government and in this instance it means recovering the costs of the provision of the starter kits in question. 

The City had made all of the necessary arrangements to distribute these emergency housing kits from early this morning, but national government and Sanral have yet to identify the alternative site for relocation.

Once the City receives the exact location of the site (with the necessary land use and other approvals) from Sanral or the National Minister, we will be able to provide these kits in a matter of hours.

It needs to be stressed again that the City has proactively provided assistance to those residents affected by the events of this week. The City continues to provide emergency accommodation to a number of people affected and is now on standby to provide the emergency housing kits outlined above.

Statement issued by Patricia de Lille, Executive Mayor of the City of Cape Town, June 6 2014

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