Masiphumelele: Persistence leads to success

YOLANDE DU PREEZ|Published 1 year ago

Members of a Noordhoek family stand outside their house shortly before being evicted in 1982. They were later evicted again in 1989 but it is not known if they were one of the 35 families that refused to leave. From left are, Ronald Corker and his wife Edith and their grandchildren, from left, Fabian, then 2, Lucia, then 6, Patricia, then 7, Bernadette, then 11, and Sean, then 10.

An areal view of Masiphumelele taken in 2018. Picture: Johnny Miller Photography/Unequal Scenes

It was the persistence of a group of 35 families living on the then Dassenberg Farm in Noordhoek in 1989 that led to the establishment of Masiphumelele as we know it today.

According to Masiphumelele: A case study of the Role of the Development Action Group in the informal community of Noordhoek, in June 1996, the forced removals under the Group Areas Act in the late 1960s scattered coloured families who were removed from Simon’s Town, Fish Hoek, and Red Hill all over Cape Town.

Many were moved to the newly established “coloured area” of Ocean View while others were moved as far as Khayelitsha, Langa and Gugulethu.

However, no provisions were made for black residents.

And while they also had to leave the “whites only” areas, no place had been allocated for them and it was expected that they too would relocate to Khayelitsha, Langa and Gugulethu.

This was of great inconvenience for those who worked in the far south as they either had to travel about 30km every day to and from work or live illegally on vacant land.

The latter was easiest which resulted in many families squatting in the bushes near Fish Hoek, Noordhoek and Kommetjie.

They faced regular harassment by police, were arrested for trespassing and their shacks were demolished.

Having little choice, they would rebuild and continue with life.

It was in January 1987 that 35 families facing charges of trespassing refused to leave and made their voices heard.

“We’d rather die. They can shoot us before we’ll move to Khayelitsha. We don’t belong there, we belong here.”

Their persistence caught the eyes of the media and it was widely reported on.

With the help of various activist groups, it was the voices of this group that made history down the line when it became the first time a black squatter camp community won the right to land in a white group area and was given the opportunity to make key decisions about the development, such as choosing a site, and planning and layout.

In December 1987, all the black families living on land in Noordhoek were forcibly removed. The Weekly Mail described it as “one of the biggest forced removal in the Western Cape in recent years. 600 squatters were woken by armed police at dawn… and ordered to dismantle their shacks on farmland in Noordhoek.”

With the help of the Surplus People Project (SPP) and lawyers from Bernadt, Vukic, and Potash in Cape Town, a Supreme Court Application challenging the forced removals was lodged.

In April 1988, Judge Howie of the Supreme Court Division handed down a judgment granting the Noordhoek squatters the right to return to the land.

He ruled that the removal was “unlawful, in that the responsible authorities had taken the law into their own hands, and had failed to go through due process of the law.”

However, the court order, known as a Spoliation Order, merely granted them the right to undo what had been done to them and did not grant them the right to land in Noordhoek.

On November 4, 1989, after constant requests to the Cape Provincial Authority (CPA), the main government actor at that stage, and the Regional Services Council (RSC) to meet, the CPA finally promised to allocate Iand for informal settlements in the South Peninsula.

However, it was only in December 1990 that land was finally expropriated for the establishment of a permanent township in the area.

In December 1992, the Noordhoek and Fish Hoek squatters moved to their permanent site, Site Five, now known as Masiphumelele meaning “let us succeed”.

The CPA had appointed town planning consultants to identify appropriate land for low-income housing for squatter settlements in the South Peninsula.

Eight possible sites were identified and after weighing in on the advantages and disadvantages of each, the squatters unanimously decided on Site Seven as their first choice followed by Site Eight.

However, after new information became available on the developable area and cost of servicing Site Eight, and restrictions to development on Site Seven, Site Five proved to be more suitable as it was larger, drier, and if extended to Kommetjie Road, far more accessible than previously thought.

Following several site visits and workshops held by DAG, Site Five became the preferred option.

The Red Hill and Ocean View communities chose to negotiate separately for land closer to their respective settlements.