Note: The new MEC had promised after last Saturday’s march to come to our mass meeting. The place was full and residents were angry and upset that he wasted their time and that he is not willing to engage with residents.
By Natasha Prince
September 15 2008 at 07:57PM
Source: Cape Argus
Gugulethu backyard dwellers have given newly-appointed Housing MEC Whitey Jacobs seven more days to determine what will be done about their housing situation, after attempts to protest outside his home were thwarted by police.
The residents, who host weekly meetings at a local community sports hall, issued the ultimatum after they were prevented from marching on Jacobs’s house in Malunga Park near the Gugulethu police station on Sunday when he allegedly failed to arrive for a meeting they had called.
Jacobs, instead, was at a meeting in Philippi and said in a statement he had “learnt with dismay” that he had been expected to attend the backyard dwellers’ meeting.
However, Mncedisi Twalo, Gugulethu chairperson of the Anti-eviction Campaign who heads the weekly meetings, said Jacobs had been invited to explain what would happen with the backyard dwellers.
He said the minister’s failure to attend had made the people “very angry”.
“We are giving him seven more days to respond … he didn’t respond the last time. That is disrespectful to the community,” said Twalo.
He said he was speaking on behalf of backyard dwellers from Gugulethu, Nyanga and Langa.
Standing on the bonnet of a police van, Twalo addressed the crowd who chanted: “Enough is enough!”, “we want houses!” and “no land, no house, no vote!”
A heavy police contingent had stopped the group of about 200 protesters as they made their way towards the street in which Jacobs lives.
They later dispersed after being addressed by Twalo
This is the second time that the community has marched on Jacobs’s house since he took office.
Some residents marched to his house last week and dumped refuse they had collected, in his garden. The group had then waited for Jacobs, who later arrived with bodyguards and police.
A statement released on behalf of Jacobs on Sunday said Jacobs was currently working on a plan and had consulted with the City of Cape Town.
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