Land invasions have cost the City of Cape Town an estimated R1.3 billion worth of housing development sites, Cape {town} Etc reports.
Also read: Cape Town’s hidden informal settlement
This is according to Member of the Provincial (MP) Cabinet Minister Tertuis Simmers, who led the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) provincial oversight visit within various areas across Cape Town.
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During a briefing held on Tuesday, the NCOP revealed that at least 186 new settlements emerged in various regions since March 2020.
The NCOP’s Western Cape MP Rikus Badenhorst spoke on the impact of land invasions and disasters as major obstacles to infrastructure delivery in the province.
These settlements, Badenhorst said, pose a risk to biodiversity, floodplains, historical landfills, rail, power and water infrastructure networks.
Some of the affected areas include:
- Du Noon,
- Baden Powell,
- Khayelitsha,
- Mfuleni,
- Strand and
- others in the southern region of Cape Town.
A site visit to Du Noon revealed five newly-established informal settlements comprising 5 237 structures.
Similarly, a site visit to Baden Powell revealed ‘an influx of land invasion’ with at least 6 236 additional informal structures built by 2023.
Simmers also noted that planned and funded projects are ‘negatively impacted, impeding service delivery and depriving residents of critical infrastructure upgrades’.
A total of 1 570 housing opportunities are reportedly affected in Khayelitsha, he said, valued at R77 million.
The minister and officials listed lockdown regulations, the Disaster Management Act of 2002 and related regulations as some of the key obstacles provincial and local governments face when attempting to address or prevent unlawful land invasion and manage lawful evictions.
The delegates are expected to return to the Western Cape Provincial Legislature today for another briefing.
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Also read:
Italian developer’s squatter nightmare exposes flaws in SA eviction laws
Picture: Brenton Geach / Gallo Images
