Reality Village in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain, which has been partially earmarked by the City of Cape Town for a cemetery, has residents of the informal settlement refusing to move, with the case set to appear in the Cape Town High Court on 30 May 2024.
As reported by IOL, 64 families are reported to live on the property, as well as wanting ‘basic services and adequate housing’.
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The land is currently earmarked by the City, as burial spaces are becoming less, with the demand for burial space being ‘approximately one thousand per month’ in Cape Town, excluding those who are buried in private cemeteries, according to Luthando Tyhalibongo, the City’s media manager.
‘There are 40 cemeteries and the majority of the City cemeteries are technically without vacant burial space,’ said Tyhalibongo.
‘However, many ‘private’ graves have the opportunity to be used for a second interment, on top of the previous burial,’ he added.
The City of Cape Town has made it clear that it is not its intention to evict the 64 families occupying the grounds, but that the court has granted the City an interim interdict to prevent ‘further unlawful occupation of the erf which is earmarked for a cemetery in Mitchells Plain’.
The occupants that are currently living on the earmarked land are being supported by Ashraf Cassiem of the Anti-Eviction Campaign and the Mitchells Plain Aboriginal Khoisan Council.
They also have ‘until then’ to respond to the interim interdict, as well as give reasons why it should not be made final.
Cassiem has stated that the occupants had not been informed of any of the City’s plans, as well as not being provided with any basic services.
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