​Following engagements with the community leadership of Imizamo Yethu this week, the City of Cape Town will be invoking a  court order which was confirmed by the Court on 1 June 2017.

The Sheriff of the Court will today, 7 July 2017, receive copies of the Final Order. We will also today be serving the Final Order on the remainder of the persons found to be in contravention of the Order.

This court order relates to moving people that have gone back to a site illegally where they are occupying land that stands in the way of a road being constructed and where bulk services must be installed for water, electricity and sanitation services.

We are enforcing the Order as part the agreement we reached with the community on Monday evening, 3 July 2017.

The City’s priority is to clear the land, as agreed with the community, where people are in the way of the road that is being built and as a result blocking and slowing down the development. The movement of these residents will enable us to construct and install the bulk services infrastructure.

In terms of the statements made by the Human Settlements MEC, Bonginkosi Madikizela, during a media interview which has led to concerns that Imizamo Yethu residents would be moved 30km from where they currently live, the City wants to put it on record and ensure residents that this is not part of the City’s programme. This has never been part of previous or current discussions during the weekly meetings between the City and the community leadership. We advise the community to disregard the MEC’s comment which is not part of what was agreed to between the City and the community leadership.

In addition, the City has a list of all registered fire-affected victims and we are currently verifying their current location and where they originally resided.

I will be meeting with the community leadership again on Monday 10 July 2017 to further outline the way forward.

As per our previous way of working with the community, we reaffirm that any decision will be discussed with the community by the Mayor’s Office and we will continue to work according to this collaborative spirit.

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