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FILE | Protesters condemned a new by-law by the City of Cape Town, claiming that it will criminalise people without formal houses.
Cape Town based civil society organisation, Ndifuna Ukwazi, says the proposed changes to laws aiming to clamp down on illegal occupation of public land, will be unfair to homeless people.
The NGO says it’s opposed to the envisaged amendments of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction (PIE) Act and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act of 1998.
The Department of Human Settlements has announced that it is working on changing some elements of the legislation.
Political Head at Ndifuna Ukwazi Buhle Booi says the proposed amendments will be a reversal of the gains of the democratic dispensation.
“The proposed amendments will essentially reverse the PIE Act into its predecessor, the Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act. So that’s what it is proposed. The PIE Act or rather the amendments proposes that it be criminal for a person who is found to be occupying or intending to occupy, they must have been criminally charged and we feel that this would be the reversal of the gains of the democratic dispensation that we are in because an occupation is not a criminal act but it should be seen as a civil matter.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works described the successful eviction of illegal occupants from the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town as part of its commitment to reclaim government buildings from illegal occupiers.
Minister Dean Macpherson was speaking at a tree-planting event on the site which is currently being restored.
The area had over the past few years turned into an eyesore with makeshift structures and tents mushrooming, while rubble and litter were also dumped there.
