N2 GATEWAY/JOE SLOVO EVICTION RULING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAPE TOWN 000148 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED AF/S FOR RMARBURG AND MJAMES SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM SF SUBJECT: N2 GATEWAY/JOE SLOVO EVICTION RULING ¶1. (U) Summary: On June 10, 2009 the Constitutional Court upheld an order of the Cape High Court whereby residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement would be evicted and moved to the more remote area of Delft in order to facilitate the building of houses as part of the N2 Gateway Project. The Court, however, added that the more than 20, 000 residents who will be evicted must be given alternative housing. End summary. ¶2. (U) The N2 Gateway Housing Project is an initiative which was started in March 2005 by the three tiers of government, namely the National Department of Housing, the Western Cape Provincial Government, and the City of Cape Town in an effort to provide low-cost housing to the poor. All three tiers were, at the time, controlled by the African National Congress (ANC) and the project was managed by the parastatal Thubelisha Homes. The project aimed to develop land on either side of the N2 Highway, but this necessitated the eviction of the informal settlement dwellers currently on the land. It was proposed that the residents of the Joe Slovo settlement be relocated a considerable distance away from their current homes and places of employment to an area on the outskirts of Cape Town known as Delft. In 2008 the Government obtained an eviction order in the Cape High Court against the residents in terms of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction From and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998 (PIE Act). The residents appealed against this order to the Constitutional Court. In their appeal, the residents argued that there was no meaningful consultation with them in relation to this project, specifically on the criteria for the allocation of housing in the new development as well as arrangements for their accommodation during the development process. They also argued that they had the consent of the City to reside in the Joe Slovo Settlement, and that this consent was not terminated prior to eviction proceedings being implemented. Accordingly, they were not 'unlawful occupiers' in terms of the PIE Act. Finally, they raised the unsuitability of relocating to Delft and the disruptive impact it would have on their employment situation, social support networks and the education of children. Argument was heard before the Constitutional Court on 21 August 2008 and judgment was delivered on 10 June 2009 with the Court upholding the earlier eviction order, but insisting that Joe Slovo residents be given proper alternative accommodation and that 70% of the residents be accommodated in the future new low-cost housing development at the N2 Gateway. ¶3. (SBU) POL Asst spoke with representatives of the various political parties regarding the ruling. Garth Strachan, African National Congress (ANC) spokesperson for the Western Cape, said the ANC welcomed the ruling and regarded it as a victory for future housing projects undertaken by the government. He said the ANC accepts and respects the judicial process and the outcome of the case and remains committed to the N2 Gateway project. COPE Communications Director, Phillip Dexter, said the court case highlighted a larger problem and his party was extremely concerned about the slow pace of delivery of essential services. He indicated that if the ANC was delivering what it had promised in past elections there would be no need for people to illegally occupy land. He said his party would closely monitor ANC delivery goals and push for speedy delivery of essential services. He added that COPE Qpush for speedy delivery of essential services. He added that COPE would focus on these social issues and do everything in its power to improve the plight of the poorer communities in South Africa. The Democratic Alliance (DA) MEC for Housing, Bonginkosi Madikizela, said that despite inheriting the project from the ANC, his party respected the court ruling and would honor the conditions imposed by the court. (Note: The Western Cape Province is no longer in ANC control and is now run by the DA as a result of the April 2009 elections. End note.) He said that one of the most important lessons the DA can take from the N2 Gateway project is to communicate with communities affected by development. However, he warned that illegal occupation of land would not be tolerated by the Provincial Government. Madikizela said his party was honor-bound to see the N2 Gateway Project to fruition despite the controversy surrounding it. He indicated that the DA has grave concerns over many issues surrounding the project and would try its best to find alternate solutions to its inherent flaws. ¶4. (SBU) The continued failure, both in Cape Town and nationally, of government and its designated development agents to fulfill their long-repeated promises of affordable formal housing for those living in informal settlement shacks is at the root of the Joe Slovo crisis, as it is throughout rural and township South Africa. The housing backlog in the Western Cape is 380,000 units and worsens every year. The backlog increases by 18,000 units a year, while only 10,000 houses a year are being built, often resulting in people spending more than twenty years on the waiting list for government housing. The N2 Gateway project is itself not without controversy. Since its launch in 2004, then-Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu's flagship project has run into numerous problems with delayed delivery, cost over-runs and lack of consultation. One of the major criticisms of the project is that it was not conceived to build houses or to contribute to solving the Western Cape housing crisis, CAPE TOWN 00000148 002 OF 002 but rather to beautify the margins of the N2 highway before the 2010 World Cup, thereby eliminating the poor from the sides of the N2 and replacing them with more expensive housing. This case will be a significant test case for the rights of poor communities who are evicted to make way for housing upgrades. La Lime