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Houses

Reclaim the City has successfully reclaimed three public buildings in the inner city and surrounds. Ahmed Kathrada House in Green Point, Cissie Gool House, in Woodstock and Irene Grootboom House in the city centre. 

Why did Reclaim the City occupy public buildings?

We occupied public buildings because our members are desperate for housing. Because we cannot afford to pay our rents anymore. Because we don’t want to live on the street when we are evicted. Because we don’t want to be sent to relocation camps by the government to be forgotten. Because we are tired of living in distant informal settlements and townships. Because we have little land and no security.

We occupied public buildings because we too have a right to live in the City. A right to walk on the promenade and walk in the gardens. A right to have a view of the sea. A right to raise our children and care for our families in good areas where there are good schools and good hospitals. A right to be close to work and earn an income.We occupied public buildings because the City, the Province and the National Government have failed us. They say we must wait patiently and the land and housing will come. But it never does and most likely it never will unless we organise against the property power that maintains inequality and spatial apartheid.

We occupied public buildings because we want to bring the struggles of poor and working class Black and Coloured people back to the centre of our City, to the seat of power, and to the land that matters.

Altogether, Reclaim the City now provides housing to hundreds of people including many families with children and elderly people. Each occupier or family is allocated a room which they use as their home. Some rooms have toilets and water, other share communal services. Nobody pays rent in the occupations, but leaders do fundraise from time to time to pay for improvements and maintenance in the buildings.

Everybody who lives inside an occupation must be a member of Reclaim the City. House leaders are elected at Congress every year and are responsible to adopting and enforcing house rules to govern the house. The leadership committees are also responsible for organising meetings, maintaining a healthy, safe and secure environment (particularly for women, children and the elderly), discipline and access controls.

Ahmed Kathrada House 

Reclaim the City members successfully reclaimed the old Somerset Hospital and renamed it Ahmed Kathrada House. It was reclaimed in April 2017 after Premier Helen Zille refused to #StopTheSale of the Tafelberg Site in Sea Point.

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Ahmed Kathrada House is on Beach Road in Greenpoint opposite the V&A Waterfront. We occupied this building in March 2017 after Premier Helen Zille refused to #StopTheSale of the Tafelberg Site in Sea Point. It was clear that the Provincial Government was unwilling to listen to the struggles of poor and working class people in need of affordable housing in the inner city. Many of our members had nowhere else to go. We renamed the building after Ahmed Kathrada because he passed away in 2017.
 
The building used to house nurses who worked at the Somerset Hospital but it was left empty and derelict for many years. Now hundreds of Reclaim the City members have made their homes here. Life here is not always easy – we share a few taps for water and there is no electricity. We are working together to improve the building so that it is safe and clean. We’ve set up spaza shops for residents and elected a leadership committee to manage the building. Nobody here pays rent, but we do fundraise from time to time for things we need.
 
 
The Provincial Government is looking to evict residents as they have committed to build affordable housing across the Somerset Precinct in the coming years. Right now we have nowhere to go because they have failed to invest in affordable housing in well-located areas for decades. For those of who will be made homeless, we refused to be sent to relocation camps. 
 
Ahmed Kathrada House is not just a home. It is where we meet and deliberate on our work and campaigns. It it a place with a view of the sea. We occupy some of the most expensive land in the city to say, clearly, where people live matters and that land is for people, not for profit.

#IAmAnOccupier

"I am a manager & I am working for one of biggest companies in the country, however, I am not able to afford to buy my own house and it has affected me so much to a point where I had to come & occupy."Bongi Mabala – Reclaim the City supporter.

Posted by Reclaim the City on Monday, July 23, 2018

Cissie Gool House 

Reclaim the City members in Woodstock have successfully reclaimed the Old Woodstock Hospital and renamed it Cissie Gool House

 

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Cissie Gool House is on Mountain Road in Woodstock. We occupied this building in March 2017 after Premier Helen Zille refused to #StopTheSale of the Tafelberg Site in Sea Point and because the City of Cape Town was refusing to end the practice of sending evictees to relocation camps on the periphery of the city. We need transitional housing for evictees in well-located areas to help families get back on their feet, and we need decent affordable housing in all well-located areas. We renamed the buildings after Cissie Gool because she was active organising for poor and working class people in the areas and was one of the first women Coloured Councillors in the City of Cape Town.
 
The building used to house the old Woodstock Hospital but has been left empty and derelict for years. The last clinic moved out in 2017. Now hundreds of people from the inner city, Woodstock and Salt River are living in the occupation, including many elderly people, and families with young children. Our elected House leaders manage different sections of the building. We’ve set up vegetable gardens, spaza shops and day care centres for young children. 
 
The Provincial Government wanted to relocate Cape Nature offices here but after we campaigned to stop the rezoning, they agreed to sell it to the City of Cape Town. The City of Cape Town wants to build social housing on the site and they have published a call for proposals as part of up to eight pieces of land that they have recently committed to develop for affordable housing. Unfortunately, not everybody in the Council has a vision of an inclusive inner city. Council struggled to pass in principle plans to develop the Salt River Market site for affordable housing and all the tenders are stuck. It’s already over a year since promises were made and very little progress has been made. In the meantime, Cissie Gool House is the only place in Woodstock and Salt River offering transitional housing for evictees. We do not charge rent but do fundraise from time to time to cover communal projects that have been agreed at occupier meetings.
 
Cissie Gool House is not just a place for people to live. It is where we support tenants across the inner city. We meet weekly to give advice and support to evictees in our advice assemblies and we plan our campaigns and events here. When we organise, we can demonstrate what is possible when government fails us.

Our journey to school

Those in power, the City and the province call us criminals, but we are just ordinary people living in Cissie Gool House. This is our journey to school.

Posted by Reclaim the City on Friday, October 12, 2018

Irene Grootboom House 

Reclaim the City has successfully reclaimed old 104 Darling Street building and renamed it Irene Grootboom House.

 

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Irene Grootboom House is at 104 Darling Street in the centre of town near to the Grand Parade. The building is owned by the National Department of Public Works but has been left derelict now for many years. Many residents have lived in the buildings for decades, others have recently arrived. Reclaim the City co-ordinating committee voted to adopt the House in 2017 and we are working to keep it clean and safe and repair damage from a fire that gutted to top floor a few years ago so that the roof doesn’t leak. 

104 Darling Street clean up

[WATCH] We have read the newspapers that the National Department of Transport & Public Works (DTPW) wants to renovate this 104 Darling Street building and put offices, while our people have nowhere else to go. We have been writing letters & going to DTPW to seek for help, we pleaded with them to renovate the build and provide basic services. Till this day they have not responded, in 2017 the third floor of the building caught fire, DTPW never assisted. Today we took it upon ourselves to clean the building and all we ask from you DTPW is to provide basic services.

Posted by Reclaim the City on Saturday, September 22, 2018

Irene Grootboom House represents the failure of the National Department to pro-actively manage its land and building portfolio in way that advances the right to housing and access to land on an equitable basis.

Copyright © 2018 | Development and design donated by Blackman Rossouw