Mayor Patricia de Lille on Monday pulled out of a meeting with Gugulethu land protesters after the area was deemed unsafe.
Residents and police were again locked in a fierce stand-off on Monday during a riot over vacant land.
The protest, which started last week, resulted in parts of the N2 highway being shut down over the weekend as angry residents burnt tyres, lined the streets with bricks and broke traffic lights after shacks erected on several vacant plots in Gugulethu were demolished.
On Monday residents once again gathered at Steve Biko Drive in anticipation of a meeting with De Lille.
Community leader, Mirvin Tshabalala, says the protest was headed by a group of young backyarders who were fed-up with slow progress on housing developments in the area.
“The problem is we have young people who were born and raised here in Gugulethu, but they cannot get houses,” Tshabalala explained.
“Now we see people coming from the Eastern Cape and they are accommodated, but the young people who have been living here all their lives cannot access homes.
“There are five big plots in Gugulethu that are just standing open and as families are growing, the young people want to go and make their own lives. But every time they erect their shacks, it gets knocked down. So we are not moving until De Lille comes to talk to us.”
Residents waited for several hours for De Lille to arrive but her spokesperson, Zara Nicholson, says a meeting had been arranged with community leaders at her office.
Residents were notified that Gugulethu police had deemed it unsafe for De Lille to visit Gugs and this sparked a march to the police station.
They, however, did not get far before Public Order Police stepped in and stopped them.
Residents continued to protest in the street, but Tshabalala urged them to avoid causing any damage, while claiming the burning and looting of local businesses over the weekend was done by opportunistic criminals.
Mini-mayors, Siyabulela Mamkeli and Anda Ntsodo, along with local councillors addressed the angry crowd.
“I can confirm that the police informed the mayor it was not safe so we had a meeting at her office and we came out to talk to the people. The protest has had a negative impact on businesses and Cape Town and we have come to an agreement that the mayor will visit them tomorrow,” says Mamkeli.
Ntsodo said he was familiar with the concerns of backyarders and says the City will conduct an investigation into the vacant land to establish ownership.