Women, evicted from farms, march for housing

Women farm dwellers waved placards and marched to the Drakenstein municipality offices in Paarl on Thursday. Photo: Liezl Human

• Under the banner of Women on Farms Project over 100 women marched in Paarl on Thursday.
• Many women are facing eviction or have been evicted and now live in informal settlements.
• New Rest, a site for temporary housing for those evicted from farms, experiences frequent fires, is overcrowded and lacks sanitation.
• The Drakenstein municipality said it takes its “responsibility to provide emergency housing seriously”.

Under the banner of Women on Farms Project (WFP), over 100 women marched in the rain to the Drakenstein Municipality in Paarl on Thursday.

They were calling on the municipality to provide proper housing for those facing evictions from farms or who have been evicted and are now living in informal settlements.

The municipality received the memorandum and committed to meeting with WFP.

“The municipality’s alternative accommodation arrangements are corrugated iron structures, creating more informal settlements,” said Carmen Louw, WFP co-director.

Louw said the shelters provided were flimsy. She said the informal settlements were overcrowded and unhygienic. Fires are a constant hazard.

A fire earlier this week destroyed four homes, according to DFW Fire & Rescue. Another in April this year, destroyed 200 houses and claimed two lives.

In 2015, over 100 people and 23 households were evicted from Soetendal farm in Wellington and relocated to New Rest informal settlement. Among them, Johanna August, a single mother of four, lost her 19-year-old son in a fire that broke out in 2020.

August said the circumstances in New Rest are dreadful. “I feel like if I got a [formal] house, I would be free … Things will go a lot better for me.”

Susan Smith, also a Soetendal evictee, lost her New Rest informal home and all her belongings in a fire two years ago. She described New Rest as wet and dirty. “Our people’s lives are not good there,” she said.

WFP wants the municipality to provide detailed plans, timeframes and a budget for housing for evicted farm worker communities, including formal housing for farm dwellers living in informal settlements. WFP also called on the municipality to audit and monitor farm dwellers’ access to water and sanitation, especially in cases where this is used as a way to force an eviction.

Solly Benjamin, from the Drakenstein Municipality, addressed the women at an indaba held ahead of the march. He said there are currently 167 evictions on the court roll.

The Drakenstein municipality released a statement soon after the march, stating that it takes its “responsibility to provide emergency housing seriously” and has “always provided emergency accommodation when required”.

The municipality said it was in its own interests to avoid farm evictions due to the cost implications and the pressure on its housing sites. It said the standard of emergency housing in Drakenstein had historically been above minimum national standards.

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