Miss-Delectable
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http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=49&fArticleId=3042813
Ravensmead residents who have occupied a dilapidated school are angry over the government's apparent inability to deliver houses.
The 500 men, women and children who moved into the Florida Park Primary school three weeks ago could face eviction if the City wins an application to evict them.
Many of the group, who recently moved out of shared homes, flats and backyard accommodation, are jobless.
Roseline Marcus has been on the city's housing waiting list since 1980. Bonnita Davis, who now shares a classroom with Marcus, fears her 14-year-old daughter may be raped if the family returns to the streets.
The two mothers have almost given up hope and say they moved into the school as a last-ditch effort to be noticed by authorities.
Marcus said: "I used to live in a garage with my family and my daughter's family. There were seven of us.
"My son is a good swimmer. He's deaf, but he's in the Western Province swimming team. I feel so sad for him sometimes because he has friends that he wants to bring home, but he can't bring them to a garage."
Nicholas Hill said: "I can't afford to buy a house. I do odd jobs where I can find work. That means I don't have a stable income.
"We used to stay in a very small flat with two other families. When we heard that people were moving into the school, we decided to come."
Hill helped others clear the classrooms of rubble and make partitions for families to have their own space.
"This place was a mess when we came here. The windows and the roof were broken and we had to clean it out. The gangsters used to use it when they smoked drugs."
Charles Esau, chairman of the Ravensmead Anti-Autocratic Civic Organisation, said: "Most of the people here have been on the housing list for many years. They need houses and, according to the constitution of this country, each and every person has the right to proper houses, but our people still stay in shacks."
Ravensmead residents who have occupied a dilapidated school are angry over the government's apparent inability to deliver houses.
The 500 men, women and children who moved into the Florida Park Primary school three weeks ago could face eviction if the City wins an application to evict them.
Many of the group, who recently moved out of shared homes, flats and backyard accommodation, are jobless.
Roseline Marcus has been on the city's housing waiting list since 1980. Bonnita Davis, who now shares a classroom with Marcus, fears her 14-year-old daughter may be raped if the family returns to the streets.
The two mothers have almost given up hope and say they moved into the school as a last-ditch effort to be noticed by authorities.
Marcus said: "I used to live in a garage with my family and my daughter's family. There were seven of us.
"My son is a good swimmer. He's deaf, but he's in the Western Province swimming team. I feel so sad for him sometimes because he has friends that he wants to bring home, but he can't bring them to a garage."
Nicholas Hill said: "I can't afford to buy a house. I do odd jobs where I can find work. That means I don't have a stable income.
"We used to stay in a very small flat with two other families. When we heard that people were moving into the school, we decided to come."
Hill helped others clear the classrooms of rubble and make partitions for families to have their own space.
"This place was a mess when we came here. The windows and the roof were broken and we had to clean it out. The gangsters used to use it when they smoked drugs."
Charles Esau, chairman of the Ravensmead Anti-Autocratic Civic Organisation, said: "Most of the people here have been on the housing list for many years. They need houses and, according to the constitution of this country, each and every person has the right to proper houses, but our people still stay in shacks."