110 Cape Town residents to be evicted

Gympie Street Residents Committee

P R E S S R E L E A S E

4th April 2006

2:30pm

An eviction order has been granted to the landlords of the blocks of flats in Gympie Street, Woodstock, Cape Town. 110 people will be evicted anytime from the 6th April onwards.

No alternative accommodation has been provided for this community, the majority of whom are unemployed, pensioners, children under five years old and persons with disabilities.

Many of the residents were born in Gympie Street in the two large blocks of flats that were wholly owned by one private landlord. The flats have no toilets and have not been maintained for over 30 years, according to tenants. Windows lack window panes and many windows are papered over with bits of cardboard that do little to keep out the elements.

The landlord frequently contravenes the Rental Housing Act with residents reporting that he barges into their homes at any time of night, contravening residents right to privacy and insisting that he take individual women residents to ATM's where they are threatened and told to withdraw their money. Residents are being charged up to R1500 for derelict flats.

The residents of Gympie Street feel that they are being evicted timeously so that the sons of the now deceased landlord can sell off the two blocks of flats to property developers who will turn them into tourist accommodation ahead of the Soccer World Cup in 2010.

Property magazines have reported that the days of Gympie Street's 'run down houses' are soon going to be a thing of the past. This will leave 110 citizens destitute and homeless. Last week, police broke up a mass meeting of residents that was held in Gympie Street.

At the meeting, residents organisations and anti-eviction campaigns from Khayelitsha, Hanover Park, District Six, Workers International Vanguard League and the Cape Town Anti-War Coalition pledged support for the Gympie Street tenants, who have vowed not to be moved from their flats. Residents of the nearby Altona Court flats also pledged support.

The Residents Committee was told to appear in court on 27th February to contest the eviction order. However, when they arrived at the court they found that an eviction order had already been granted on 8 th February! The Residents Committee is currently in talks with attorneys from the Legal Resources Centre about this abuse of legal process.

The Committee is expecting a high degree of police brutality will be meted out to the vulnerable tenants from Thursday onwards and is appealing for support.

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For comment, please call the Co-ordinator of the Residents Committee, Willie, on 073 1443619