The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Mr Nocks Seabi, welcomed the eviction and relocation of people who had illegally occupied the grounds of the Castle of Good Hope in the City of Cape Town. Still, he highlighted that the occupation underscored the continued challenge of access to social housing opportunities in urban areas.
“While we welcome the evictions in the context that those people occupied that space under undignified and horrendous conditions, we remain worried by the continued inequality in our cities, which forces the poor and marginalised to spend inordinate resources on transport to areas of economic activity. The occupation is symptomatic of the country’s continuing inequality challenge,” Mr Seabi said.
While the Chairperson welcomed the plans to move affected people to transitional shelters run by City Safe Spaces, he argued that long-term solutions should be found to have integrated communities closer to work and places with high economic activity.
“It is disconcerting that 30 years after the fall of the system of apartheid in South Africa, we are still faced with cities where the poor people live on the margins of society, in most cases far from work opportunities. The time to have inclusive spaces has long passed, and there is a need for urgent action to ensure access to housing opportunities in the city,” Mr Seabi said.
Mr Seabi cautioned about the continued inclination to plan without effectively implementing plans to enable access to housing in cities. “We have long heard of plans to increase housing opportunities in cities, yet we have not seen tangible results. Our people deserve the dignity of quality housing opportunities as promised by the Constitution,” said the Chairperson.
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