Nearly 26 families facing possible eviction from their council owned homes in Wynberg have received temporary respite, after the City of Cape Town provisionally withdrew plans to terminate their lease agreements. The families reside in houses situated along South Road, where the City has sought to make way for a new Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) for residents of Wynberg and neighbouring Plumstead.

In a bid to find an amicable solution for both parties, the City of Cape Town will now engage in a public participation process in the hopes of accessing alternative routes.

Despite the move, residents have taken the announcement with some degree of caution. South Road Families Association spokesperson, Clive Muller said that whilst they viewed the move as an olive branch held out by the City due to sustained media coverage, they were aware of similar promises made in 2002.

“This was where they put the community under the impression that they were shelving a road widening scheme idea, that any further developments would be properly communicated, and that public participation would be the order of the day,” he said, noting that they were now at loggerheads with the city over the same scenario of evictions.

He suggested that if the City were genuine in their approach to consider the communities views through public participation, then residents would very much be opened to engagement. However, he did question the scheduling of some of the planned meetings.

“The 17th June is given as one of those days, and this is the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Wynberg is a predominant Muslim community that respects its religious beliefs, and therefore we cannot engage in public participation that seeks to exclude of Muslim community,” he stressed, adding that this was further proof the City had ‘not done its homework’.

Whilst a City issued press release indicates that they will be seeking community involvement in finding alternative routes to the South Road scheme, Muller was eager to point out that this was something that the South Road residents had been long advocating.

“If the City wants us to go and do the exercise again then we will extend them the same courtesy. Those viable routes that we have suggested have already been on the table but because they were deemed absurd, that is the reason we found ourselves at loggerheads,” he said.

He added that they would support the City in any initiative that excluded the destruction of homes, and the uprooting of communities.

The public participation dates are listed as:

– June 15 from 16:00 to 20:00 in the Alphen Centre, Constantia;

– June 15 from 16:00 to 20:00 at the Claremont Civic Centre and

– June 17 from 16:00 to 20:00 at Church on Main Road, Wynberg.

Deadline for written comments to the City has now been set for the 13th July. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)