A dispute has erupted over a piece of land, in Philippi, between locals who use it as a place to perform the Xhosa initiation ritual and shack dwellers determined to use it as a residential area.
Sikelela Zokufa from the Somagwaza Institute, an organisation that looks after and protects the interests of Ukwaluka (Initiation) in and around Cape Town, said the land belongs to Eskom and they had been using it before the power utility bought it.
"We used to have land marked for us in Delft, but due to a similar incident, we were forced to move. Now, we refuse to be bullied, and we will protect this land," said Zokufa.
He said they had received a tip-off and found that people from Samora, Philippi, and other areas were planning to invade the site.
"Immediately we mobilised our people and protected the place. Last week they were planning to invade the place, and indeed, when we arrived, there were people building shacks, and law enforcement was called," said Zokufa.
He said those who wanted to invade the land came from the Eastern Cape who underwent the same ritual and understood the importance of Ukwaluka, yet appeared to undermine “our way of doing things here in the Western Cape”.
"We plead with the community to please learn to tolerate each other; let us not undermine each other. "We are making men and leaders of tomorrow here."
Zokufa has called for peace from both groups, saying that they were both amaXhosa and protecting this site meant the preservation of their culture and customs, hence they needed to work together.
He said private security was hired, the place was being fenced, they were in communication with the owners of the land, and received a lease agreement to continue using the land; and a court interdict was also in place.
Mtshana Woduka commented on the matter on Facebook, saying people desperately need places to stay and that they were tired of renting.
"There’s no land situated among the people that is earmarked for Ukwaluka, we are saying every land that is available people must occupy it and put up a shacks. We are tired of renting your houses," said Woduka.
LA Flame IV, also on Facebook, said people must put up shacks and that no one owned the land. "These people must go back home to their roots, there’s plenty of land in the Eastern Cape where they can perform the initiation ritual. We are not going to stop building just because of them," he said.
The Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport said the land did not belong to the department and therefore it could not comment.
"Our department will continue to support and engage with all parties, within our mandate, to ensure that initiation can continue safely in the province," said Tania Colyn, Head of Communications.
Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town said it had spent 99% of its R512 million informal settlement grant, but large-scale unlawful occupations had created 186 new high risk settlements.
Early this week, city officials from the Human Settlements team, including the Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi, told Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements that 99% of the City’s informal settlements grant had been spent in 2021–2022, improving the lives of these residents.
From 2018 to 2022, the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) funding allocation to the city from the National Government systematically declined, despite the demands for basic services and upgrading informality.
"We are clearly delivering despite the immense challenges we are facing. The unprecedented large-scale illegal occupations resulted in the formation of 186 new informal settlements, or over 69 000 new structures (between March 2020 and December 2021).The impact on housing beneficiaries is that 4 728 housing opportunities were lost and it will cost more than R263 million in capital funds and R176 million in operational costs per year to cater for these settlements in perpetuity," said Booi.
He said the financial implications of the land occupations were enormous and will have a long-term effect on the city.
"The City does not have the resources to cater for all newly formed settlements, often immediately asking for services," said Booi.
Mbulelo Mvana Head of Stakeholder Relations and Communications at Eskom confirmed that the land in questions does belong to Eskom.