Hout Bay fire victims close down town in row over electricity
The shacks were moved to the main traffic circle at the entrance to Hout Bay‚ next to the fire station and police station. Protesters also lit bonfires in the road.
At one stage the suburb was cut off from the rest of Cape Town with all roads closed‚ but police intervention restored partial access while city council officials met community leaders to discuss their concerns.
The protest stems from delays in resettling thousands of residents whose shacks were destroyed three months ago in a fire in Imizamo Yethu informal settlement on the hillside overlooking the Hout Bay valley.
Affected residents have mostly been living in a temporary relocation village provided by the city. But some moved back to the fire-ravaged area‚ prompting a court order last month to have them removed.
City authorities want to redevelop the Imizamo Yethu site before allowing people back‚ to make it more fire-safe‚ but residents are frustrated by the delay.
The trigger for yesterday's protest was news that those removed in terms of the court order were being supplied with electricity‚ whereas those stuck in the temporary village were not. “It is very cold‚ the soil is very wet (in the temporary village)‚” one protester told a reporter at the scene. “It has been three months now and people want to move back. People are starting to get sick.”
But City of Cape Town mayoral committee member Brett Herron said it appeared the protest stemmed from a misunderstanding about the court process. “We will be talking to the community if we can to explain the process that has unfolded‚” he said‚ adding that the council was obliged to provide electricity to those affected by the court process.
The remaining residents would also be supplied with electricity once they had been moved back into new informal structures in Imizamo Yethu where a process of "super-blocking" was under way. The fire-ravaged site was being developed “in a more planned fashion‚ with road tracks and footpaths‚ so that we can get services in”‚ Herron said.
Better access to the site would allow officials to more easily combat future shack fires.
The city council is also busy with a parallel process to provide formal housing for affected residents at a separate site within the township area.