[ad_1]
- A Cape Town man is mulling over the possibility of filing a criminal complaint against the city’s mayor, Dan Plato.
- Aslam Richards says he’s still in shock after Plato told him to “shut up” when you asked questions about a housing development.
- The Dido Valley Housing Project is intended to be a restitution project for people forcibly evicted from Simon’s Town.
A Cape Town man is considering filing a criminal complaint against the city’s mayor, Dan Plato, after being told to “shut up” when he asked questions about a housing development.
Aslam Richards said he was disappointed and still in shock after Friday’s incident.
He said he was simply asking for a response to a memorandum already submitted to Cape Town last October.
Richards wanted to clarify who would be assigned the 600 houses in the suburb near Simon’s Town.
“That’s when he turned around and bullied me. He pointed his finger at my face during a Covid time,” Richards said of the incident on Friday.
“He said to me ‘Shut up, shut up’, and some other things I can’t remember.”
He said the police also allegedly grabbed him by the neck. He said that he could not understand why he was considered a threat, given that the mayor had personal protection.
“I’m very disappointed. I’m going to press charges,” Richards said, adding that he hadn’t been able to focus on work after the incident.
Richards explained that the full ramifications of the Dido Valley subsidized housing project became apparent last year when utility lines and roads were installed.
He said the community wanted to know who was going to be transferred to the houses.
He said the community was upset that it seemed that the people, who came from the Eastern Cape, had priority over the people from Ocean View.
He said he started asking questions last year but did not receive a clear answer, despite handing over a memo to demand more information during a march on Fish Hoek in October last year.
He alleged that once it became clear that the government was going to build houses for some of the residents of the informal settlement of Redhill, there appeared to be a series of large-scale land invasions by people whom he described as “coming from the Eastern Cape. “.
He explained that if new residents of the informal Redhill settlement got homes first, it would be at the expense of people who had been in the housing database for decades and possibly in favor of the Eastern Cape “land grabbers.”
In an article to commemorate the forced relocations in the area during apartheid, the People’s Post reported that Simon’s Town was declared a “white” zone on September 1, 1967.
The forced relocations had already begun in 1965, when the Luyolo community in Simonstown, which was mostly made up of black workers from the Eastern Cape hired to extend the railway line between Kalk Bay and Simon’s Town, moved to Gugulethu, near the Airport. Cape Town International.
Families from Red Hill, Dido Valley, Glencairn, Kloof, Kraal, Seaforth, and Simon’s Town Central were also evicted and relocated to Ocean View, Grassy Park, Retreat, and Heathfield.
Last October, under the banner of the Fighting Back group from Simon’s Town and its environs being forcibly removed, there was a march demanding that Ocean View residents have the right to the Dido Valley homes first.
Aslam Richards (supplied)
In that video, Richards is seen telling Plato that the parents have died heartbroken from the forced relocations.
“We are not going to leave it like that. Ocean View will not stand by and allow the people of the Eastern Cape to get our land,” he said in that video.
However, since the October march, he said they have had no answers about the homes in Dido Valley.
Last October, in a video, the City of Cape Town explained that the Dido Valley housing development would provide 600 homes for first-time homeowners.
Beneficiaries from the nearby informal settlement of Redhill, the former Simon’s Town waiting list and the Luyolo group of land claimants would be assisted.
The city of Cape Town said the development was being carried out through a Popular Housing Program process, in terms of which beneficiary communities designate and manage their own contractors.
A list of proposed street names was also approved, and the City said the streets will be named after the names of the clans of the families that were part of the Luyolo and Redhill communities, such as Mafuya, Cona, Somlotha, Lombo and Apple.
Streets was also named after Peter Clarke, an internationally renowned artist, and academic and activist Albert Thomas.
They were both people of color, originally from Simon’s Town.
The city of Cape Town said that Plato and Mayco member for community safety JP Smith were on a field trip with Neighborhood Watch (NHW) groups, as part of efforts to make the area safer through despite gang activity.
The statement said the ride went well, but “political opportunists” interrupted it.
“I was disappointed that some political opportunists sought to disrupt this community walk and show complete disrespect for NHW members, but thankfully the political opportunists left after they filmed their propaganda and we were able to continue with residents who care about their community. “, He said. Plato in the statement.
The ANC committee in Cape Town city was shocked by the incident.
“This was the mayor behaving like a gangster and not like a mayor should. We demand that the mayor apologize for telling a resident ‘just shut up’. Mayor Plato is an embarrassment to Cape Town. He should go – now,” he said Fiona. Abrahams, spokesman for the ANC caucus.
Do you want to know more about this topic? Sign up to receive one of 33 News24 newsletters to receive the information you want in your inbox. There are special newsletters available to subscribers.
