CoCT should engage unauthorised land occupants instead of eviction threats - Ndifuna Ukwazi

CAPE TOWN - In the Western Cape, housing activism body Ndifuna Ukwazi says the City of Cape Town should meaningfully engage unlawful land occupants instead of threatening them with eviction.

The city said they are obstructing flood repairs in the metro following recent storms.

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Ndifuna Ukwazi’s head of political organising Buhle Booi said poor people shouldn't be criminalised for seeking housing solutions.

"Therefore, they should not be referred to as criminals or illegal land invaders. That is a deeply problematic terminology to be referring to poor people that are trying to make ends meet in so far as trying to find shelter for their families."

Booi said the city should be engaging communities meaningfully to find housing solutions.

"The State and the municipality must find meaningful ways of engaging the communities that are in these disaster parcels of land and move away from using threats of eviction as a way of forcing people to relocate."