As police haphazardly fired rubber bullets, threw teargas canisters and sprayed jets of bright blue water on the eve of the local government elections, residents of Tafelsig in Mitchell’s Plain on the Cape Flats swore they would not be voting on Wednesday.
While election fever around Cape Town reached a peak the day before the elections, across the city hundreds of backyard dwellers and residents were ducking for cover from bullets and dousing their faces in water to try to overcome the teargas that had seared their eyes. Backyard dwellers claim they have been on government housing lists for between four and 38 years and land invasion is now their only option.
Residents from around the area gathered to support the backyard dwellers — who had invaded vacant land next to the Swartklip sports field — but were being evicted by police.
Yet the backyard dwellers were not giving up without a fight. While they removed their belongings from the litter-strewn field, they left their stakes firmly in the ground. Made from wooden planks and ribbons, the stakes represented a forlorn but symbolic challenge to the authorities to provide the impoverished people with housing.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with the elections. We need housing for all. The DA and the ANC, what have these parties done for us?” said Caroline Abrahams (55). “I’ve got five children that live with me and I’ve been waiting on the housing list for eight years. We are the forgotten people.”
When four luxury vehicles glided to a halt next to the field, the police instantly stopped firing at the residents.
Out stepped ANC Western Cape provincial leader Marius Fransman, who is also the deputy minister of international relations. His delegation spoke to the police, and encouraged them to move their vehicles and troops off the field. The move prevented further injuries among the residents.
It has not yet known how many people were injured during the shootings that began at the weekend, although many residents showed the Mail & Guardian their wounds from rubber bullets. Some spoke of a boy being hit above the eye and a woman was rushed to hospital with a serious arm injury on Tuesday.
“The backyard dwellers are a big issue and we cannot ignore your needs,” Fransman told the people. While many residents tried to shout him down, calm prevailed in the war-torn community after the police withdrew.
But Fransman’s intervention did not sit well with the Democratic Alliance’s Albert Fritz, the Western Cape minister of community safety, who on Tuesday released a statement complaining of the “political disruption” at the land invasion in Tafelsig.
“I will be requesting a full-scale investigation into this incident, including an analysis of City of Cape Town video footage at the scene,” said the disgruntled Fritz.
“Law enforcement agencies were on site to keep a tense situation calm, and to provide assistance to the anti-land invasion unit so that the illegally erected structures could be removed. This is a legal route that is being followed as the city and province are committed to peacefully resolving the matter within the framework of the law.”