Premier

Whilst this question should have been directed to Minister Madikizela as our Minister of Public Works, which is the Custodian Department of the immovable assets in question, for the sake of convenience I shall respond and do so as follows:

1. I assume you are referring to the Helen Bowden Building, owned by the Western Cape Government and forming part of our proposed Somerset Precinct Development; and the old Woodstock Hospital building which has now been sold by the Western Cape to the City of Cape Town for one of its social housing developments I thus cannot comment on the facts pertaining to the Woodstock Hospital occupation because it is no longer under the control of the Western Cape Government.

2. As far as the Helen Bowden building is concerned, I need to correct your assertion that it is currently occupied by “activists from Reclaim the City and other organizations”. This is incorrect. Reclaim the City and its alter ego Ndifuna Ukwazi publically encouraged the illegal occupation of this building in 2017 in order to raise awareness of its objection to the Western Cape Government’s decision to dispose of the Tafelberg site in Sea Point.  It did this with full knowledge that its actions, in encouraging many vulnerable persons to act unlawfully, were themselves unlawful. Many of the persons currently in occupation thereof now not only refuse to vacate the building, effectively preventing any re-development thereof, but have also approached the Western Cape Government to advise that they want nothing to do with either Reclaim the City nor Ndifuna Ukwazi and have no affiliation with either of those organizations. They do so for reasons which I need not elucidate upon now, other than to comment that many of them accuse Ndifuna Ukwazi or Reclaim the City of making false or broken promises with regards to their occupation of Helen Bowden.

3. Before answering your questions pertaining to the current living conditions of the occupants of Helen Bowden, I also need to address what appears to be your underlying assumption that the current occupants in Helen Bowden do so with our consent and that the WCG is akin to their landlord. This is not so. The building was invaded unlawfully on the urging of Reclaim the City and our obligations towards these occupants in respect of Covid-19 do not extend further than our obligation in this regard towards every other person within the Western Cape. To suggest otherwise confuses the rights and obligations that attach to a landlord or lessor, with those of the owner of a building that has been intentionally invaded.

4. This notwithstanding, the building is attended currently by private guards who have 24-hour access to the Department of Transport and Public Works officials and communicate with them in relation to any additional attempts to invade or criminal conduct in the building. All criminal conduct is reported to the local SAPS station and charges are laid, as the law requires. Should any of those occupants act unlawfully outside of the building i.e. in breach of the current lockdown provisions or indeed any other applicable law, clearly that would be an offence that SAPS alone could and should act upon.

5. Helen Bowden is an old nursing dormitory which was previously used to house the nursing staff for the nearby hospital, It now has a relatively stable number of group of occupants, who I am informed occupy the space available in family units and not in close proximity to each other. Their ability to self-isolate and stay warm and inside during the lock down period is indeed thus far better than many others in our Province who reside in both formal and informal settlements in much closer proximity to each other. While there is no doubt that the fear of contagion is well-founded and genuine in every person, including those in Helen Bowden, it is a reality for almost all South Africans residing [lawfully] in similar situations currently, and cannot of itself elevate the level of our response, as government, towards these occupants to a higher level than that which we can and are showing towards the rest of our citizens.

6. The provision of extra toilets and water that is being supplied on site by both the City of Cape Town and the Department Transport and Public Works so as to uphold the state’s constitutional obligations towards them with respect to basic services. The sani-toilets are thoroughly cleaned by the contractor hired to provide same, and this will continue within the context of Covid-19 regulations, with stricter hygiene as is required and necessary to comply with the current Disaster Management regulations. In addition, some of the current occupants have Minister Madikizela’ s email address and are in contact with him and his officials regularly with respect to additional basic resources that are required from time to time.

7. Free electricity is not provided to the occupants of this building by the Western Cape Government and no such obligation exists.

8. In addition, Covid-19 infections posters have been put up in the building, clarifying the steps that must be taken by all of us in the event of a suspected infection, and the helpline numbers to call in case of a suspected infection and so that effective quarantine and/or testing can take place should anyone present with symptoms.