Riyaat Meyer’s shack (he prefers to call it a “home”) on the side of Voetboog Road in the Bo-Kaap was unceremoniously dismantled on Thursday. For the fourth time. It was his 28th birthday. By 6pm the next day he, Shahied Robain and other members of a grouping who call themselves the Bo-Kaap Disadvantaged Community had already constructed the beginnings of another shack at the same spot.
They will not be deterred by the shacks repeatedly being removed by law enforcement and will rebuild them until their housing demands are met. Robain, 43, who can no longer tolerate Bo-Kaap residents living in “overcrowded homes for over 20 years”, said protesting residents have taken this route “to voice their concerns on behalf of the community”.
“City officials say they are willing to talk, but I had a meeting here the other night with (Ward 77 councillor) Brandon Golding. He can’t even give me one answer, not one answer for all the questions that we asked him.
“We gave him a list two weeks ago. He said he would come back in two weeks with the list. He came to the meeting empty-handed. So how can we trust a guy like that? How can he be one of our leaders.”
Before responding to Robain’s accusations, Golding indicated that Erf 81, the large, defunct military base in Tamboerskloof, which could either serve social housing, gap or mixed-use housing needs, holds a possible solution to the housing problems in the Bo-Kaap. He said it is not cost-effective “looking at small bits and building a housey house there when we are looking at block spend”.
Moreover, he has had a weekly meeting on a Tuesday for two years, which is arranged through Bo-Kaap Civic, dealing with a range of topics affecting the area. “They gave me a list of demands a while ago and we are dealing with that currently. Housing is part of it and it is a longer-term chat.”
He also said those “suddenly protesting two or three weeks ago are welcome to come to this chat, as they are represented in the housing grouping as far as I understand”. And they and other Bo-Kaap residents can also email their concerns to him at [email protected]
Riyaat Meyer, 28, and Zainoesa Hendriks, 59, explain what drives them to erect a shack for the fifth time.
Video: Louis Neethling
Elaborating on the housing prospects at Erf 81, Golding said: “We have been speaking to national government for a while and I appreciate their support in helping me drive that engagement, because if we are going to do anything meaningful in the area that’s where it is.
“It’s apartheid spatial planning and it’s got a disconnect between Tamboerskloof and Bo-Kaap. And if we are going to reconnect those spaces, it is going to be through Erf 81. So I have asked for support in terms of national government which will be to the benefit of the community of the Bo-Kaap and possibly to Tamboerskloof.”
Commenting on the meeting two weeks ago, which included Robain, Golding’s response was: “I gave them a gap for engagement. I said to them there are certain things we must do and there are certain things you must do. So if you are serious about social housing and you want to build a Bo-Kaap construct around social housing, then prep for it. They are asking to look at smaller plots, which I am happy to look at, but there is work they need to do their side as well.
“My indication was that if you are going to engage with the City, that would need to be through a social housing company which you would need to form. Because that’s the only mechanism I know of currently outside of the Civic where we would talk to you and engage. So the commitment their side is that they would look at getting the entity established and I would try to start identifying prospective places which are there.”
The City demolished shacks on the side of Voetboog Road in the Bo-Kaap on Thursday. By 6pm the next day a new "hokkie" was already taking shape. Picture: Louis Neethling
Regarding this week's meeting with Robain, Golding said he “wasn’t prepped for it because he came to speak about tourism and not housing. I will go into the next meeting a bit more prepped, but that I will do with the community of the Bo-Kaap and the Civic”.
“I did indicate to them that this is what we can look at; this is how we can possibly help. It is part of our densification process for the city, but the unlock will only happen in a sizeable space. We can’t build on 200 square metres, it doesn’t make sense."
Golding was adamant that squatting would not be tolerated. “People squatting in the meantime, and I am very clear about this, if you are squatting in a public space, it’s like squatting anywhere else.
“What we don’t want is an informal settlement forming. Land Invasion will come and remove anybody squatting on the side of the road, and I told them this straight. I told them through this Bo-Kaap forum which you have formed, I will engage with you...
“There is no knee-jerk. I cannot come and discuss and vindicate with five protesters on a housing matter because then I would have to meet with any person who has invaded property anywhere else.”
Shahied Robain, 43, already erecting another shack with other protesters after the previous one was dismantled by City law enforcement on Thursday, gives insight into how the protests in the Bo-Kaap were more than a year in the making, and the part their elders had played. Video: Louis Neethling
However, the impatience of apartheid spatial planning victims and those who have been on housing lists for over 20 years, who now have to contend with gentrification and increasing development in the Bo-Kaap, is understandable. The fourth- and fifth-generation Bo-Kaap residents also find it difficult to stomach being "manhandled" by City law enforcement each time their shacks are dismantled.
“We aren’t happy because people are buying houses and building big mansions and stuff in the Bo-Kaap, while here we are many people living in a small house. It’s not fair," said Meyer.
“People are making money off our grounds. It’s not that we want to live a lavish life, we just want to be happy to have space for ourselves... Some people are sleeping on stoeps with their wives and their kids.
"All we ask of the government and the council is to give us a house. We just want something our children can also stay in with dignity, and their children.”
