The hyprocrisy of Lindiwe Sisulu and Patricia de Lille needs to be pointed out as it holds significant bearing on the provision of homes for those who need it most, writes Matlhodi Maseko.
Over the past two weeks, residents of the Western Cape, and the Cape Town metro in particular, have witnessed a dramatic increase in the torching of public property and invasion of land. In many instances, such land is earmarked for public housing in efforts to curb the backlog of over 600 000 applicants.
While land invasion is wrong, and often intolerable, land occupiers cannot all be painted with the same proverbial brush. Harsh economic conditions and inconsistent policy regulations during the nationwide lockdown perpetuate an environment inconducive to job creation.
Quite simply, people are desperate for a place to call home.
That said, South Africa is no stranger to politically incited land occupations. These costly efforts delay the handing over of homes to beneficiaries – many of whom are elderly and have been on the waiting list for years.
There are two elements of political hypocrisy which must be pointed out as they hold significant bearing on the provision of homes for those who need it most.
Firstly, it is the national Departments of Human Settlements and Public Works, led by Ministers Lindiwe Sisulu and Patricia De Lille respectively, primarily charged with ensuring that provinces and municipalities receive land for housing via the Housing Development Agency (HDA).
Land not handed over
De Lille is failing us here. Only two of the 31 promised parcels of land from her department have been handed over to the Western Cape via the HDA. The announcement was made in October last year. In response to this issue, De Lille is very quick to point out her department’s handing over of land for District Six development and gender-based violence (GBV) centres.
The reality, however, is that no such land has been granted to either the City of Cape Town or the Western Cape via the HDA for District Six. It appears the minister needs to consult a little better with her ANC-coalition colleagues, as this land is now under custodianship of the national Department of Rural Development and in a legal process.
The GBV centres are resourced by Social Development, not housing.
Secondly, instead of cooperation from national Human Settlements, we have double standards from Minister Lindiwe Sisulu.
The minister sought any opportunity to attack the Western Cape for upholding the rule of law in efforts to curb land occupations, particularly in the metro area. Her threats went as far as to call for an approach of the courts for what she claimed to be evictions during the nationwide lockdown.
Yet, when 130 shacks were torn down by the City of Johannesburg on the morning of 18 July, Sisulu was quiet. Many of these structures were not at all new, and the land bordering Eldorado Park and Lenasia had already been occupied long before the Covid-19 lockdown. ANC Mayor Geoff Makhubo proudly announced his administration’s fearlessness to enforce the rule of law in the area.
Similar incidences have taken place throughout lockdown in other parts of Joburg, from the south to nearby plots of land in the leafy north.
Yet Sisulu remains hell-bent on applying a different set of rules to the DA-led Western Cape and its municipalities from those for her ANC colleagues in Gauteng. This in spite of the fact that the Gauteng High Court In Johannesburg ruled against the City for its eviction actions as far back as April.
Where was Sisulu’s outcry over evictions in Johannesburg and eThekwini in March and April? Why did she not take to Twitter then and threaten legal action as she did to the City of Cape Town? The evictions in Kokotela, Marianhill, Cato Manor, and other areas in and around Durban and Johannesburg were illegal in light of the regulations gazetted by Sisulu’s own government.
Double standards
Once again, we have an ANC Cabinet member who must be compelled by the courts to act in line with the law and lockdown regulations. Never mind the fact that it is regulations to which she would have been consulted when Regulation 11CA was amended in terms of section 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act.
It is worrying when government leaders cling to double standards; hypocrisy becomes a fuel for division and political maneuvering. In putting their national ANC-GOOD coalition and personal careers first, ministers Sisulu and De Lille turn a blind eye to the stark reality faced by so many South Africans every single day.
But what we need is the true spirit of cooperative governance to be in place, without fear or favour to political interests.
We need governments at all spheres to get back into the business of building homes, upholding the rule of law, rewarding law-abiding residents, and meting out justice against those who do not.
In this way, we can get back on track – providing households for our people and offering dignity as they absolutely deserve, and as the Constitution requires of us. In these most peculiar of times, it is up to us to embody the spirit of that Constitution and progressively work towards the achievement of its aims as build a new future in a land so full of promise.
- Matlhodi Maseko is the DA Western Cape spokesperson on human settlements.
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