We are the residents of Ses’khona in Phillipi East, Nkandla in Kraaifontein, Island in Khayelitsha, Qandu-qandu in Khayelitsha and KK Section in Khayelitsha. There are 150 of us.
We are very disappointed with Mayor Dan Plato’s response to our memorandum of 22 November 2018 when we demanded that our right to water be fulfilled and respected. Instead, R4,8 million was spent on Christmas lights in the inner city.
To say that informal settlements are “illegally formed” is to say that the millions of people living in informal settlements in the country are illegal.
Yes, we occupied land. But, we did so because we need a place to call home. We did so because we need land. We are not criminals and we should not be treated as second-class citizens in our own country.
Despite having occupied, we still deserve services that will allow us to live with dignity. We are still without water and toilets. Our living conditions are inhumane. We are going to the Civic Centre on Thursday 31 January 2019 to use the toilet and collect clean water to drink because we do not have toilets or water to drink where we live.
For many months in 2018, we experienced the criminality and brutal attacks and victimisation by the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement agencies and it’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit (ALIU). These are the real criminals who tried, but failed, to evict us illegally. We resisted the City of Cape Town’s criminality. We resisted JP Smith’s criminality. We resisted Richard Bosman’s criminality.
Now it is election time and the same people who tried to illegally evict us and leave us for dead without water or toilets, are going to come and ask us to vote for them. The same politicians deployed by the DA who called us illegal and who saw us as less than human beings now want us to vote for them. The same Dan Plato who didn’t see us as deserving of a meeting with him wants us to vote for the DA.
We are therefore saying to the DA that if a Mayor chosen by them does not see us as humans deserving of a meeting with him to address our extremely serious and urgent concerns, then we do not want to see the Democratic Alliance campaigning in our communities.
We are deserving of respect and dignity.
Signed:
Lindela Tatsi – Ses’khona, Phillipi East
078 062 5399
Mrs N Mafaya/Khanyisa Jalisa – Qandu-qandu, Khayelitsha
071 210 1691
Okuhle Makangela – K Section, Khayelitsha
060 769 8294
Silulami Vungaye – Island, Khayelitsha
063 536 0457 or 083 511 5214