By Buziwe Nocuze
To the naked eye, it doesn’t look like much, but the empty bush next to the Stock Road bus station in Cape Town has become a battleground.
An initiation school, a desperate group of shack dwellers and Eskom itself are vying for control of it.
Twice a year, the bush in Philippi East is used for boys going to initiation school. And the residents of Philippi East liked it the way it was.
In any case, the land belongs to Eskom, which plans to build a substation there.
So when the would-be shack builders showed up, Somagwaza, a non-profit organisation, joined forces with Philippi community members to halt the building of illegal shacks.
The space, said Somagwaza founder Sikelela Zokufa, is the only land they have left for an initiation school, which attracts boys from Philippi East and Gugulethu.
“If we sit and allow them to illegally build their shacks, we won’t have anywhere else to go. We will lose the only open space that we have to initiate our boys,” Zokufa said. The Somagwaza Institute uses the space during the summer and winter seasons.
“Respect goes a long way. On the day where it was said they were going to build their shacks we met them and explained why we can’t allow them to build there.”
The Eskom substation is another issue. Zokufa believes Eskom will allow the initiation school to continue even when the substation has been built.
Eskom Projects stakeholder manager, Mbulelo Mvana, said discussions with the Institute should be concluded before June to find a long-lasting plan.
“A key issue is to make sure Eskom does the right thing in meeting its environmental requirements and compliance,” he said – “hence these discussions are not yet concluded with Somagwasa.
“However, Eskom respects the initiation culture and will want to find a long-lasting solution on the matter soon.”
For some among the group who have eyed the space as perfect for shacks, neither Somagwasa’s issues nor Eskom’s plans are relevant. They are still planning to build their shacks on the land, claiming that they have nowhere else to go.
One anonymous squatter criticised Somagwaza, claiming that they do not own the land and that they should keep the initiates in their own backyards.
Pictured above: Somagazwa Institute with some community members went to an open space next to Stock Road to protect it from illegal invaders who are planning to illegally erect their shacks
Image source: Buziwe Nocuze
