The Western Cape government is preparing to relocate residents who are illegally occupying the abandoned Helen Bowden Nurses Home located on the corner of Granger Bay Boulevard and Beach Road, Green Point.
The Helen Bowden Nurses Home became the site of a defiance campaign for affordable housing in 2017, steered by the activist group Reclaim the City.
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According to News24, Ntobeko Mbingeleli, a spokesperson for the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements and Infrastructure, said the relocation of residents was receiving attention but was being handled outside of court.
The department intends to redevelop the site as part of the Somerset Precinct redevelopment, with a focus on inclusionary housing, and the current building will be demolished. Mbingeleli stated that this can only be done after the unlawful tenants have left the property.
The old nurses’ home is in disrepair and lacks running water. Residents have to get water from the only tap on the property.
Mbingeleli stated that the provincial government had installed standpipes on the site to ensure safe water access, and residents can also get water from vandalised fire hydrant facilities inside the building, which have not been turned off due to fire safety concerns.
Security guards patrol the property to prevent more people from joining the occupation, which is currently occupied by approximately 200 tenants.
When the occupation began in March 2017, the government of the Western Cape turned off the electricity.
Sheila Madikane, a domestic worker from Sea Point, has been at the helm of the occupation since its beginning. Madikane said it is especially challenging to be without electricity during the winter.
According to Madikane, the passages are very dark, and many residents use wheelchairs.
“When it gets dark, we can’t walk around. Some of us have no jobs, and we have asked the province to provide us with electricity, and they outright said no,” she told News24.
“We have a housing crisis in this province, and they are saying they (the provincial government) want to use the property for housing. But where must we go? We want them to fix the building for us. We don’t want to live for free; we want to pay rent that’s affordable,” she added.
Alan Winde, the Premier of the Western Cape, criticised the Reclaim the City occupations during his State of the Province Address last month. He said that the number of housing beneficiaries affected by extortion has risen dramatically in the past few months, from 18,000 to 21,000 residents.
Winde went on to say that not only is it extortion, but it is also stealing other people’s rights to homeownership by illegally occupying sites designated for social housing and mixed-use developments, and that illegal occupations impede their ability to provide thousands of housing opportunities.
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Picture: reclaimthecity.org.za
