OUTCRY OVER BULLD0ZED BUTTERWORTH INFORMAL SETTLEMENT

Housing spokesperson Dacre Haddon

The Democratic Alliance will be tabling a motion in the Eastern Cape Legislature tomorrow (Wednesday, 30 March) regarding the inhumane manner in which 300 homes in the Bhungeni informal settlement outside Butterworth were flattened by bulldozers last week.

The rights of the 2 000 residents who were left destitute were violated in terms of sections 10, 12(1) and 26 (1) and (2) of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of South Africa.

I will request the House to resolve that:

1. The MECs for Human Settlements and Local Government and Traditional Affairs investigate the circumstances surrounding the brutal treatment of these citizens;

2. Immediate appropriate action should be taken fast track suitable land for the residents of Bhugeni; and

3. That the MECs for Human Settlements and Local Government and Traditional Affairs report back to a joint meeting of the portfolio committees of these two department on step taken to deal with this matter and in what way.

It is despicable that in the South Africa today that people can be treated in this inhuman manner. They at the very least deserved adequate warning and alternative accommodation should have been found for them.