On Monday 3 July 2017 I met with the Imizamo Yethu community leadership in Hout Bay and later addressed the broader community. Further meetings lasted late into last night.

I am relieved that I was finally able to address the community following prolonged violent protests which caused a very volatile situation.

The City remains committed to engaging with the community leadership to ensure that we rebuild the area.

I conveyed to the community leadership that I am prioritising this matter and that their direct line to me remains in place.

There is no justification for the violence which took place over the past three days. Some of the damage incurred on Monday includes the destruction of the site office and equipment of the civil contractor in addition to the petrol bombing of a sewerage pipe. The people of Imizamo Yethu cannot afford these kinds of setbacks. We have said from the outset that we have to work together to ensure the people receive the services they need.

Following the meeting in Hout Bay yesterday, I went back to the City’s executive management who are working on plans for the area and responses to the new issues raised by the community.

We met with the community leadership again last night and brought a proposed plan to them asking for their input on the way forward.

Together with the community leadership we agreed that we are going to accelerate re-blocking across three areas (Madiba Square, the Shooting Range site and Donste Yakhe). We will work in all three areas at the same time.

We are assigning a new programme management team to facilitate and oversee all line departments in the area.

The community leaders agreed with the way forward and we discussed and will keep engaging on the finer details of how the proposed steps will unfold. The community leaders also identified which leaders would help us with the various aspects of the accelerated re-blocking.

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