Political vampires evicted Lwandle residents for ANC's gain: Zille

DA leader Helen Zille claims that the Lwandle evictions were motivated by political electioneering.

"It is now clear that this crisis (like several before and since) was deliberately engineered by a group of individuals seeking to use the desperate circumstances of the most vulnerable people to build a political profile for themselves in the run-up to the 2016 local government elections (just as they did before 2014)," Zille wrote under the headline "The ANC's political vampire squad".

Zille claims that Ses'Khona are not a movement for people's rights, but rather an ANC faction spreading misery in order to "extend their own power and control."

According to Zille, one example of this was ward councillor JJ Maxheke redirecting resources that were supposed to go towards the residents at Lwandle to his allies.

"Instead of ensuring that disaster relief was dispensed to all who needed it, Lwandle ANC Councillor, JJ Maxheke, helped his Ses'Khona allies to divert the resources to the home of a well-known Ses'Khona committee member at LP 81 Pholile Park," Zille said.

"Inevitably, the Lwandle residents who had refused to pay Ses'Khona a "membership fee" to live on the SANRAL land were sidelined," Zille alleged.

"Several affidavits document how desperate community members protested outside this house for resources to be distributed fairly to those in need," Zille said.

Not only that, but Zille alleged that Ses'Khona are behind the destruction of services in informal settlements.

"Take the recent example of Kosovo, in Phillipi, where Ses'Khona members destroyed sanitation facilities and then prevented contractors from accessing the area to repair the damage. In a further unprecedented act of vandalism, the electricity substation was also destroyed, leaving 5 200 households without power," Zille said.

According to Zille, "Predatory politics is becoming the norm in informal settlements across South Africa."

Human Settlement Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has previously accused Zille and Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille of politicking about the composition of the Lwandle inquiry's composition, rather than dealing with the issues facing the people who were evicted.

"The premier and the mayor [Patricia de Lille] stood and watched for three days. She told everyone that is not her problem. The mayor also said it was not her problem. We as the ANC government came in to find a solution," Sisulu said in a statement.