Activist group Reclaim the City on Wednesday took to the Green Point Bowling Green, protesting for affordable housing to be built, while at the same time digging foundations and laying bricks.
According to the group, City of Cape Town deputy Mayor Ian Neilson promised affordable housing on that particular land for workers who keep the City in business.
A statement from the group said “For more than a century, International Workers’ Day has been celebrated to denounce the conditions of workers including the lack of decent housing across the world. It is through our labour that the City of Cape Town was built, and yet there is still no place for us.”
“The Green Point Bowling Green is an example of the City’s failure to redistribute land and prioritise the needs of poor and working-class residents,” the group said.
MAYCO member for safety and security JP Smith expressed his irritation at Wednesday’s protest and subsequent occupation.
“The occupation is illegal,” he told News24. “I’m further irritated because such acts come at an opportunity cost when we had to redeploy law enforcement to that area, leaving other parts of the city vulnerable.”
Smith said he was in no position to comment further on the matter, on the basis of it being a housing protest.
More: news24