Cape Town - Salt River residents have resolutely vowed to fight tooth and nail to ensure long-standing Shelley Road residents would not be removed from their homes by the City of Cape Town, including the ward’s DA councillor backing the fight.
Close to 70 residents gathered for a general meeting facilitated by the Salt River Residents Association (SRRA) at the Blackpool Hall on Saturday.
The resident’s grievances saw support and attendance from the ANC, EFF and Al Jama-ah.
The GOOD Party has also provided support to the affected residents.
Issues on the agenda included feedback from the Shelley Road Anti-Eviction Group; noise disturbances at, and the issuing of a liquor licence to, the Pizza Shed; and the multi-storey development at 17 Shelley Road.
On June 26, nine households, with predominantly pensioners as tenants, received a notice from the City informing them that their tenancy and leases might be terminated due to the City’s intention to sell the properties.
A similar letter was also issued to occupants where no leases were in place requesting them to vacate the property by no later than July 31.
“July 31 is completely unrealistic, so we’re looking at regularising the lease agreements so that they’re not addressed as illegal occupiers but as tenants because that’s what they’ve been for many years,” ward councillor Yusuf Mohamed said.
“I’ve written to the subcouncil, I want a full investigation on the history of the properties, what the intentions are when selling, the process they’re going to be following,” Mohamed said.
“Every step of the legal process this eviction needs to go through, I will stand in the way of it.
“The topic of tenancy and the ownership, that is also on the conversation for the tenants to actually become the owners of these houses, so we’re looking at that process also.”
The City said the properties were surplus to the City’s needs and that the council approved the disposal in 1999.
SRRA executive member Sulaiman Appoles said the association was fighting for rent control in the area as well as freezing of rates for properties older than 60 years and residency of the elderly. “We cannot have a situation where people are paying between R10000 and R14000 to live in a two-bedroom house. It’s not feasible, it’s not acceptable,” Appoles said.
One of the affected Shelley Road residents, Sheradia Brown, 62, said: “My mother was a pensioner and they wanted to charge her R1 million for a house which she has been living in, given birth to children in. And I think that was very unfair.”
The futures of about 150 people residing at the Salt River Bridge, over the train line on Voortrekker Road, were also at risk.
Representing the community living at the bridge, Nuraan Dreyer said: “This would be my second eviction, should it take place.”
Residents said they were not adequately informed of the multi-storey development at 17 Shelley Road.
The development will consist of 31 flats and 192 units as part of a boarding house. SRRA chairperson Warda Rahim said: “At the end of the day, we want to see these people be handed those homes, that they become those homeowners. And the same with the people under the bridge, that they are taken care of properly.”