The Battle For Wingfield Land Petition: Our Battle for Wingfield Land - Needed for housing and social developement

We, the undersigned, NOTING THAT

Our area need land for houses, we have a huge backyard problem, overcrowding and informal settlements, while right on our doorstep there is Wingfield disused and vacant land – vacant and disused for decades, which does not make sense .

All the informal settlements in ward 56 could be closed down and most backyarders can be accommodated on the Wingfield land.

The Wingfield Land is currently owned by the National Government and is mostly in disuse and is a danger to our community for murder, rape, illegal occupation, dumping and a fire risk.

In September 2004, the government released a comprehensive housing plan, called “Breaking New Ground”, one of the targets were fast-tracking of the provision of formal housing within human settlements for the poorest of the poor and those people able to afford rent and or mortgages;

There are housing development plans for our community in the CoCT Human Settlements Integrated Development Plan – but the National (ANC) government is refusing to transfer the land to CoCT. (Up to 10 000 Housing units can be built if the National Government hand the land over to our community).

The White Paper on Local Government (1998) describes discontinuous land use as being the result of apartheid planning, which created "buffer zones" or strips of undeveloped land between white and black areas.

This pattern of land-use is inefficient (as it increases infrastructure and transport costs) and has negative or exclusionary social effects…….By refusing to transfer the land, the National government is perpetuating Apartheid discontinuous land use practices and is betraying the struggle for land found in slogans like Mayibuye iAfrika and Izwe Lethu.

BELIEVING THAT- Since 1994 no development has happened on this military land which was used to oppress us Our community also suffered and struggled against apartheid now we suffer under the National governments refusal to give us the Wingfield land for houses, Wingfield is public land held in trust by the state for the good of the people of this community.

Governments should not play party politics with people’s lives. Reasonable Housing is a community issue and a constitutional right regardless of or for whom people vote. The ANC led government’s refusal to transfer the land as a state to state transfer is unreasonable and unethical.

HEREBY DEMAND THAT - The ANC controlled national government transfer the land (without demanding money for it) to the CoCT for the building of houses for this community as soon as possible and without delay, and that it immediately declares its intention to do so- Respect our Dignity give us the land, so that we can raise our families with dignity,

AND RESOLVE TO - Campaign as a community united across socio economic, race, and gender, party political, ethnic and cultural lines for the transfer of the land for housing for our community until it is accomplished.- We will have houses in our lifetime.