Bromwell Street residents are back in the Western Cape High Court today, as they wait to hear judgement whether the City of Cape Town is obliged to grant them alternative housing in or near Woodstock.
The families are being evicted by the Woodstock Hub to make way for new apartments.
The City said residents should be moved to the Wolwerivier temporary relocation area more than 30 kilometres from Cape Town.
Bromwell Street spokeswoman Charnell Commando said when Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille visited them last year, they asked for a place close to home.
Reclaim The City, a movement that strives to "advocate for state-subsidised, affordable housing development in the inner city, and demand that poor families’ homes and rights to remain near the city are protected", spoke to Charnell about the proposed temporary relocation site and how the the relocation will effect the lives of Bromwell Street's residents.
On Sunday, De Lille said this is a court matter and the property doesn’t belong to the City. She can “no longer have talks with residents. Unfortunately the attorneys must talk to each other”.
Commando said sending them to Wolwerivier “represented apartheid spatial planning in the 21st century”, urging that “the mayor and her lawyers do more to find abetter solution so that we can remain in the city”.
The matter continues in court today.