Transport and Human Settlement Ministers to visit the community of Lwandle informal settlement in the Western Cape following evictions

03 Jun 2014

The Minister of Transport Ms Dipuo Peters and her Human Settlement counterpart Minister Lindiwe Sisulu are set to visit the community of Lwandle in the Western Cape this afternoon.

The community was affected by evictions following a court order granted in favour of Sanral on 24 January 2014.

The Western Cape High Court granted an order of eviction of sections of the Lwandle informal settlement which were built on a road reserve belonging to Sanral.

The affected people are occupying land that had been set aside for the construction of the N2 road.

The Ministers have expressed concern over the humanitarian situation caused by the evictions.

They will this afternoon meet with the leadership of the community to find solutions to the current challenges.

We have also noted with concern mistrusts peddled by the Democratic Alliance and the City of Cape Town.

To put the record straight, we have attached a chronological background of the situation in Lwandle, pointing out the strides made by Sanral to resolve the situation.

City of Cape Town cannot abdicate responsibility for Nomzano evictions

Pretoria, 3 June 2014. The City of Cape Town must shoulder a primary responsibility for the events that lead to the eviction of people from the Nomzamo informal settlement following a court order.

The SA National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (SANRAL) has clear evidence that the City prevented the acquisition of an alternative piece of land for the relocation of communities living inside the N2 road reserve. It is obvious that they used the issue of toll-roads in the Western Cape as an excuse to terminate discussions on the issue.

On-going negotiations between SANRAL, the City of Cape Town and private developers were suddenly cut short by the City in an e-mail message from the City dated 31 August 2011. The message stated:

Meeting of 8 April 2011 between SANRAL and CCT refers: Mayor's Office: "Notwithstanding any previous correspondence, please accept herewith that Council cannot advise, one way or the other, on your proceeding with the acquisition of Erf ST681-17 for the eventual relocation of occupiers of the N2 road reserve (Onverwacht Interchange), until such time as the Intergovernmental Dispute over road-tolling has been resolved."

At the time SANRAL had been engaging with the City since 2003 to relocate the occupants living in the road reserve to alternative accommodation or serviced sites.

The inaction of the City brought this process to an abrupt end and SANRAL, eventually had no other option but to apply for a High Court Order to prevent further land invasion. This Order was granted on 24 January 2014 and SANRAL started with the enforcement of the Order on 19 February.

As an agency of the Department of Transport, SANRAL works together with all three spheres of government. It cooperates with all local and metro authorities and cannot carry out any developments without their approval.

In the case of the Nomzamo land, SANRAL approached private developers, ASLA, in 2006 to assist with the relocation of informal settlers inside the N2 road reserve. The following year ASLA provided 1 900 structures as part of the relocation process and SANRAL had to swop the land used for developable SANRAL land. The cost of relocation, at the time, was set at about R1 200 per structure.

In 2007 SANRAL was able to relocate 1 900 households in the area and in December 2009 the City assisted SANRAL with the relocation of 450 structures to Bardale after it accommodated people in the road reserve to allow the City to construct the Onverwacht road.

SANRAL met with city officials on two occasions in March and April 2011 where it was suggested that SANRAL negotiate with the owner to purchase two portions of the Farm No.681 Stellenbosch.

The intention was that SANRAL would acquire these properties and donate them to the City. In exchange, the City had identified a property at the Macassar interchange that was to be developed, together with a small portion of land owned by SANRAL, for the relocation of the occupants.

The owner of the land signed a sale agreement for these two properties and the transaction was about to be approved by SANRAL when the City sent its e-mail, dated 31 August 2011, to terminate its discussions about the issue.

Statement issued by the Department of Transport, June 3 2014

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