ANC criticize alleged Blue Downs evictions

By Rhodé Marshall
23 August 2007

The African National Congress says it condemns the evictions they believe occurred in Blue Downs.

The party claims the evictions which affected at least twenty families in the area, has apparently been conducted at the request of Councillor Wilma Brady who was assisted by two members of the Cape Town City Police.

“According to eyewitnesses the evictions were done without prior notice nor with legal eviction orders,” says ANC Media spokesperson, Garth Strachan.

He says the evictions were done with the destruction of wendy houses on some of the plots.

Provincial Secretary for the ANC, Mcebisi Skwatsha says the evictions cannot be justified, especially as it was done without proper eviction notices.

“The ANC calls for a full investigation of the matter. The public has a right to know what is going on with the activities of Wilma Brady and the housing processes in Blue Downs,” says Skwatsha.

Although the ANC insist their allegations are truthful, Dan Plato from Mayoral Committee Member for Housing, Dan Plato says the ANC is spreading a completely false message to the public.

“The allegations made by the ANC are not true, at all and I find it hard to believe that anything of the sort ever occurred,” says Plato.

He added that he spoke to Brady about the alleged evictions, which she has denied and says it never took place.

“Wilma Brady said she never did anything of the sort as she is familiar with the procedures which need to take place when an eviction is done,” says Plato.

Plato says an eviction of the sort with the involvement of Brady, who does not have the authority to do it, would be a contradiction to the laws of the country.