The Ministerial Enquiry appointed by Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Human Settlements, to investigate the evictions at Nomzamo (Lwandle) Cape Town, will on Monday, 14 July 2014 commence with the first round of its public hearings. The venue for the hearings is the Good Hope Sub-Council Building, 44 Wale Street, Cape Town starting at 10h00.
On 4 June 2014 the Minister of Human Settlements, Honourable Lindiwe Sisulu established a Ministerial Enquiry into the evictions of the members of the informal settlement community on Erf 32524, Lwandle/Nomzamo, Strand at the instance of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) pursuant to a court order issued by the Western Cape High Court, Cape Town on 24 January 2014.
The decision to appoint the enquiry has been taken in pursuance of the duties of the Minister set out in Sections 2 and 3 of the Housing Act, 107 of 1997 read together with the Bill of Rights contained in Chapter 2 of the Constitution.
The mandate of the enquiry includes to:
(i) Investigate all the circumstances under which the evictions took place, and the history of the evictions, including the facts leading to the application for and obtaining of the court order on 24 January 2014 by SANRAL; the execution of the said court order by SANRAL; the role of the relevant Sheriff for the jurisdiction of Cape Town; the roles of the law enforcement officials of the South African Police Services, the Cape Town Metro Police and any other official of the national, provincial and local government involved and any other person;
(ii) Establish the identity of the affected members of the informal settlement community of Lwandle, how the community came to be on the land in question when there is a waiting list for the provision of housing in terms of government programmes.
(iii) Report on its investigation and findings; and
(iv) Make necessary recommendations to the Minister for consideration.
To this end, all relevant parties were invited to provide written submissions and/or comments relevant to the subject-matter and mandate of the enquiry. The process for submissions/comments together with any relevant documentation and records commenced on Monday 23rd June and the deadline was Friday, 27 June 2014.
The responses have been considered by the enquiry and the relevant entities and individuals have been notified and invited to make oral presentations at the hearings.
The first round of hearings will focus mainly on those institutions/entities having had a direct role in the evictions.
Members of the community who are directly affected by the evictions will be heard in a subsequent round of hearings at a venue convenient to them. A further communication will follow regarding the exact dates and venues of such public hearings.
The last category of hearings (Category C) will concentrate on other parties including non-governmental organisation (NGOs), community based organisations (CBOs), etc. The venue and time for this round of hearings will be communicated in due course.
In the interest of transparency and meaningful public participation the enquiry will conduct its hearings in public and everyone interested can attend on a first come first served basis due to space limitations.
For media enquiries please contact:
Vusi Tshose
Cell: 083 581 5265
