Tensions mount as Cape Town farmers face relocation

The battle over these two plots of land separated by a muddy road has been ongoing for more than a decade. The informal farmers on the east side (left of photo) need to move because the land is earmarked for a housing development and the people living on the west side (right of the edge of the photo) need to move to make way for the farmers.

• Plans to relocate informal farmers occupying state owned land in Eerste River have hit a brick wall.
• The farmers are concerned that they will be moved to sites that other people are already occupying which could cause further tension in the community.
• The Western Cape government plans to develop the land the farmers are on for housing, but these plans have been stalled for years in a battle to get the informal farmers to move.
• The Ithemba development plans to provide about 2,400 housing opportunities. This includes a variety of low-income and subsidised houses, including Breaking New Ground (formerly RDP) houses.
• The Western Cape Department of Infrastructure told GroundUp that “relocations will be commencing in early September 2024”.

A group of informal farmers occupying government land earmarked for development in Eerste River will soon have to move. But this has caused tension in the community because there are already families living on the land proposed for the farmers’ relocation, and the area is too small to accommodate all of their livestock.

The land currently occupied by the farmers is owned by the Western Cape government. It is about 72-hectares and located on the outskirts of Cape Town on Old Faure Road, between Blue Downs and Khayelitsha.

The Western Cape government plans to develop the land for housing, but these plans have been stalled for years in a battle to get the informal farmers known as the Ithemba farms to move. The Ithemba development was to provide about 2,400 homes including low-income and subsidised houses and Breaking New Ground (formerly RDP) houses. There is also provision for public open spaces, schools, and community and commercial facilities, according to a 2020 statement from Western Cape Human Settlements MEC, Tertuis Simmers.

Heinrich Daniels, one of the small-scale farmers, walks with his child on his property.

Farmers told to make way for housing

A community report from the Housing Development Agency (HDA) dated 25 April 2024, indicated that as part of the relocation plan, sections of the Ithemba farms would be cleared and fenced off.

The farmers will be allocated land on the adjacent area to the west, after a contractor has been appointed to clean it. “Material will be provided to farmers relocating to the west side” such as zinc sheets, poles, and nails, the document read.

But when GroundUp recently visited the community, we saw that there were already dozens of informal houses on the west side where the state plans to move the farmers.

A resident living in one of these homes on the west side, Salome Oliver, said she was told that someone would be relocated to where her home currently stands. She claims that an official from the HDA gave her an ultimatum, that if the person was not allowed to move onto the property she currently occupies, her housing application would fall through.

Another resident on the west side Willem Markus said that officials should not “make decisions on behalf of the residents”. He claimed that they’ve been promised formal houses “many times”, but this has still not happened. Markus suggested that people be taken from the west side and put into houses, so the farmers can be moved here without causing conflict in the community.

Farmer Hlati Magwentshu says it is unreasoable to expect most of the 80 farmers operating on the Ithemba farms property in Eerste River to share space with residents on the smaller plot of land to the west.

Mzi Philiso is one of the informal farmers. He said they’ve had countless meetings with HDA officials where they asked for clarity on whether farmers would get lease agreements, the size of the farms they would be allocated, and whether electricity and sanitation would be provided.

As part of the land is currently being cleared to be developed, Philiso said some people have been moved into people’s yards on the west side.

“The farmers do not have a problem leaving this area provided they are moved to a place with better conditions. The residents [on the west side also] don’t have a problem with leaving, provided they leave to a better place … which they were promised,” said Philiso.

He said the concern is that it’s HDA’s intention to “squat” everyone on the west side so they can clear the land where the farmers currently are.

Another farmer, Hlati Magwentshu says it is unreasonable to expect most of the 80 farmers to share space with residents on the smaller plot of land.

Long court battle

The matter was in and out of the Western Cape High Court in 2009, 2010, and 2011. In January 2011, the court postponed the matter for hearing at a later date, if either the applicant, Ithemba farmers association, or the respondent, the Western Cape Human Settlements minister, wished to proceed. A mediation process about alternative land then started. The Ithemba farmers have also been supported by the Surplus People Project (SPP), and some of the farmers are part of its Food Sovereignty Campaign (FSC).

Resident Salome Oliver was concerned about the relocation of the farmers to where her house is currently erected.

There was initially land nearby in Penhill in Eerste River where the farmers would have been relocated. But by 2016 this land was already occupied.

GroundUp sent detailed questions to the HDA which responded saying the Western Cape province was “best suited to respond to the query”.

The Western Cape Department of Infrastructure told GroundUp that relocation of the farmers will start in September.

The department also intends to start moving some of the people living on the west side to into a nearby housing development in a place called Forest Village. This will make some space for the farmers.

The department also said that many public meetings were held over the past 18 months, and that there had been “overwhelming support” for relocation into formal housing.

“There will always be the select few in any housing project who may not necessarily want to move into formal housing or leave the site for whatever reason, and these are the citizens that the department and the HDA will continue to engage with to find solutions for their predicament.”

The department added that they have no intention to use the courts to relocate the residents but rather to continue with “meaningful engagement”.

The provincial government says the relocation of the farmers and the occupiers will start next month.

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