Activists and Cape Town law enforcement clash in Khayelitsha

First Published by  GroundUp .

Note: this article is a development to the article published earlier by Groundup here: 

A video apparently showing a City of Cape Town law enforcement officer pepper-spraying Axolile Notywala, the head of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), while he was detained in the back of a van, has been posted to Twitter by Notywala.

The event occurred on Saturday as the City once more took steps to demolish shacks at the Empolweni informal settlement in Khayelitsha, a policy that has been vehemently opposed by the SJC and other housing activist organisations. Demolitions also took place on Thursday after shack dwellers occupied City-owned land a few days earlier.

The SJC argues that the demolitions are in violation of the moratorium on evictions during the Covid-19 lockdown, but the City argues that the moratorium doesn’t apply to land occupations.

Leader of the Khayelitsha Community Network, Ntsiki Dlulani, said that frightened shack dwellers called her and and Notywala to say that officials were about to demolish their shacks.

Notywala posted a video of himself and an unidentified resident sitting in the back of a van outside Harare Police station in Khayelitsha.

I just got pepper sprayed by a @CityofCT law enforcement officer with no identification. The person I’m with in the can was asking for the officer to open so he can pee. They said we have no rights. I challenged him on that and he pepper sprayed us pic.twitter.com/RybJXamqOr

— Axolile Notywala (@Xila_Notywala) April 11, 2020

Message posted by Axolile Notywala posted on Twitter (which also contains a video).

In the video, Notywala struggles to keep his eyes open as they produce tears. He is also seen coughing and sniffing. “I can’t see. My eyes burn,” he says.

Notywala describes how he was arrested. “All we were asking was for this gentleman to be allowed to pee,” he says.

At the time of publication activists were reporting that Notywala and others who were arrested would be released on Saturday evening with a warning.

Heavy rain is expected in Cape Town on Saturday night. DM

Comment about the latest incident from the City of Cape Town had not been obtained the time of publication. In earlier comment from the City of Cape Town regarding the evictions, Mayco Member for Human Settlements Malusi Booi denied that this was an eviction. He said the court had granted the City an order to remove “unoccupied and unfinished structures in line with the provisions of the law and based on advice from legal professionals”.

“These structures were illegally erected on City-owned land. Land invasions are illegal,” he said.