The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and Western Cape Community Safety MEC, Albert Fritz, have condemned City of Cape Town Law Enforcement officials for violently evicting a naked man from a shack in Khayelitsha.
A video of the incident, which has gone viral, shows officials dragging the naked, wet man from his illegally constructed shack in eThembeni, near Empolweni. He was apparently bathing at the time.
Evictions are prohibited under the state of national disaster which government declared in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
VIEW: A video of Bulelani’s humiliating eviction went viral online
The City said the officials involved have since been suspended pending an investigation, while the victim, Bulelani Qholani, 28, tells the Daily Voice he’s been left “humiliated and broken” by the incident.
“I was taking a bath and the officers kicked my door open. They could not wait that I put on some clothing, they dragged me out,” he says.
“Being landless is something that is bothering me but to be humiliated like that really broke my heart. My dignity was stripped, dragged and trampled upon.”
Bulelani says the Coronavirus lockdown cost him his job and he had nowhere to go.
“I am unemployed and I used to get part-time jobs. The lockdown affected me badly and I could not afford rent anymore, I wish to have a home like anyone else.”
Bulelani Qholani
Picture:Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency
On Thursday leaders from different political parties and civil organisations marched to the Harare Police Station to open a case against the City of Cape Town.
Executive Director for Safety and Security Richard Bosman says four staff members involved in the scuffle with Bulelani have been suspended while an “urgent” investigation into the matter is under way.
In a statement, the HRC said: “There was recklessness among the officials about whether the victim would be humiliated and his dignity violated. This action does not belong to the democratic South Africa.”
HRC commissioner Chris Nissen says there is no excuse for the officials’ behaviour: “We welcome the City’s suspension of the officers, but clearly the world has seen this man being stripped of his human dignity.”
NO EXCUSE: HRC’s Chris Nissen
Mayor Dan Plato has also welcomed the suspension of the officers.
“I want to make it clear that this is not the type of conduct that we tolerate in this city,” he added.
City of Cape Town spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said Bulelani’s shack was illegally erected on City-owned land.
In April, the Western Cape High Court court ruled that the evictions of the residents in Empolweni whose homes were demolished by the City over the Easter weekend was unlawful.
The group, who were represented by the Legal Resources Centre, were allowed to return to the land and re-erect their dwellings.
SPEAKS OUT: Mayor Dan Plato
However, Tyhalibongo says other people are trying to build shacks there as well.
“The land in question belongs to the City of Cape Town and the City has conducted various operations to prevent illegal land occupation. After (being) removed, new attempts are made to invade again on a daily basis,” Tyhalibongo said.
“The land is earmarked for installation of services to serve the broader community in the area. There is an interdict in place as well as a recent court order which allows only 49 households to temporarily remain on the land until after the lockdown. The City must also maintain this recent court order.”