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As part of the City Immersions course, we had the opportunity to visit the occupied Cissie Gool House, a former hospital in Woodstock, on Thursday and meet some of the residents. Bevil Luca, a man who is very active in the Cissie Gool community as well as in the Reclaim the City movement showed us around the place and gave us background information about the beginning of the occupation as well life today and their future goals. He emphasized several times that this is not just about residential, that this is clearly an occupation, a political fight, and a claim. It is a place to live, but as a resident, you are part of the movement and because of this clearly formulated political agenda I see this occupation as an inspiring example of protest and reclaiming and I would like to dedicate this journal entry to it.

The information I use here comes from my notes during the tour with Bevil Luca. Similar to the way Bevil structured his tour, I will briefly give some background information about the former hospital and the beginnings of the occupation, then give some narratives about current living and the internal organization, and finally tell about their goals for the future. Here, above all, to point out is the desire to work participative with the government for the development of the place that does not involve the eviction of the people and the destruction of the buildings.

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Corridor on the first floor, traces of the former use as well as interventions by occupants.JPG

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Vacant buildings during great pressure on the housing market

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Vacant buildings during great pressure on the housing market

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The former hospital was standing still, it was very dirty, birds and rats lived there. It was used now and then for movie shoots but was otherwise unused during a time when evictions and the displacement of the urban poor to the outskirts and townships of the city were the norms. Bevil Luca joined the "Reclaim the City" movement to do something about these evictions, as well as to pressure the government to support affordable housing for the lower-income in central locations in the city. "Reclaim the City" has and continues to oppose the sale of land for profit, evictions, and the fight for affordable housing. The occupation of the Cissie Gool House was also part of this movement and a reaction to the sale of the Table Mountain property in Sea Point to a private buyer, although a project with social housing had actually been planned on this site.

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Traces of the former use as a film set.JPG

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At the beginning of the occupation in 2017, about 30 people were involved. To gain access to the property, they said that they were interested in using the building as a film set, so the security let them into the building. Some stayed behind and inspected the infrastructure, the sanitation system, and accordingly how the building could be suitable as a living space and what all needed to be repaired and completed to make it habitable. Especially at the beginning, it was a lot of work for everyone, the empty and dirty rooms had to be cleaned. Bevil Luca told us that the occupants were a group of activists and homeless people and that during the occupation there had also been some vandalism, which he did not appreciate. In certain parts of the building, taps made of zinc, copper, and other saleable materials were expropriated and needed services were destroyed. This kind of vandalism he did not welcome at all and he found it very problematic that people who would inhabit these parts of the building were disadvantaged by it. Because of these incidents, they soon had to think about an internal organization, a kind of hierarchy and order, and this was a process. They organized security patrols to stop cases of vandalism and also found people responsible, these had to leave the place and the movement accordingly.

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Graffiti spread throughout the building section of the first occupation.JPG

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Life today, the community and the internal organization

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Life today, the community and the internal organization

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The community grew, and today, according to Devil, around 900 residents live in the settlement, and this growth was also associated with challenges. Finding an internal organization was a process and various issues had to be solved, as well as mistakes were sometimes made, as Bevil Luca tells. But overall he sees the community as strong and he says that it is a different kind of residence because you live here but at the same time you are part of a political agenda. If you agree to live here you are automatically part of the movement and agreed to contribute to the community. For example, they have different teams where you can contribute. He for example as a trained cook is part of the kitchen team. In the settlement there is also a maintenance team, which consists mainly of people who know how to install and repair services, there are people who work in the garden, as well as there is a children's care. In general, they want to create a safe place, many walls are painted to make the place more child-friendly. With violence, they generally have few problems, but if this does occur, they have a kind of punishment through increased attendance and work shifts. In serious situations, it could also happen that someone had to leave the community. For Bevil, it was important to emphasize here and also important for those individuals to understand that this is a reprimand for unacceptable behavior and this is to be separated from eviction, as many in the community have experienced at the hands of the state.

The community also contributes a certain amount of money, especially for maintenance funds, which are mostly used for the cost of upcoming repairs.

In certain areas, the former uses as a hospital are still well noticeable and the corridors are still labeled, but they have renamed the corridors and rooms after streets from the city or have also named certain areas after the regions from which many of the residents living there were evicted. Thus, one can sense the political agenda even in the naming of the sections of the building.

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Graffiti for the goal of child friendly and cheerful spaces.JPG

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Political claims, goals of participation, and development

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Political claims, goals of participation, and development

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In a "professional report" ordered by the city, the conclusion was that this was not a site to be demolished but had the potential to be redeveloped with the community. The occupants, therefore, had hopes that such cooperation with the government for the development of the site would come about. At the moment, however, this wish of the residents, as well as the report ordered by the government itself, is being ignored and a court case against the occupants is underway, which is pushing them into the dangerous position of possible eviction again. However, the community is not giving up. They want to cooperate and show what they have done with this place and how they could develop and improve it. That's why they do these tours, they let researchers and visitors in, they want members of the government to come too, to get in touch and to develop the place in a collaborative and participatory way. Because of the danger of eviction, they have been in contact with architects and are currently working on a counter-proposal on how this place can be developed. For this, they have created a model, which they are very proud of and in which the community together with urban planners have collected and drawn ideas on how the place could be developed. Bevil does not assume that this proposal will be accepted without changes, but it aims to enter into a dialogue and work out compromises in a participatory way.

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 Model elaborated with architect, collaborative complement, the objective of a counter-proposal.JPG

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Links for more informations on the topic

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Links for more informations on the topic

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https://twitter.com/ReclaimCT

https://nu.org.za

https://www.newframe.com/cissie-gool-residents-want-a-place-to-call-home/

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It has been almost four years since residents occupied the Woodstock Hospital in Cape Town, now known as Cissie Gool House. The only living things there then were birds and rats. The people living there have turned the building into not only a home but also a community, and now the threat of eviction hangs over their heads.

They have also fixed the stove and oven, created a vegetable garden and set up an after-school facility where designated youth monitors look after children.

Youth monitor Nasreen Moolajee, affectionately known as Granny, says she is worried about what would happen to the children should the City of Cape Town follow through with its planned eviction. "They must reconsider because we can't break this up. I don't want to talk about it because I become emotional. At the moment it is very sad. To break up this for what? There is already a community."

Moolajee runs an after-school programme for children living at Cissie Gool House. She takes pride in what she does. She beams when she talks about a child whom she helped tutor, who recently left for university in the Free State. "If I care for a child, they automatically become my kid. I've got a lot of kids that come in for after-school. So far, while I've been here, it is going okay. This is a passion that I have. I help with all the subjects from grade 8 to grade 12. When it was their final exams, I stopped everything and just concentrated with the matric exams."

23 February 2021: Nasreen Moolajee, a youth monitor at the house, runs after-school programmes. She also helps tutor some of the children to prepare them for exams.

She says she is extremely concerned about the pending court case and threat of eviction, especially how it will affect the children. "I am not feeling good about it. The thing is, the children trust me. What am I going to tell them? I'm worried about each and every one in this occupation. It is not right. What about the little ones that can't speak out? What am I going to tell them if I'm not there anymore? I'm feeling very heartsore for what we have to go through. Sometimes I think it is not necessary. I think it's just cruel."

"There are so many plots that they could build on. Why not build on there first and see if the people will move? Where must they go now? They want to move us far out to where the crime is. Is this really what the City wants for our children? Here at the moment we are all safe, instead of sending us into places we will die. It's not humane, it is upsetting."

No confidence in housing list

Cissie Gool House was occupied in 2017 along with Ahmed Kathrada House, formerly the Helen Bowden Nurses Home, in protest against the lack of affordable and social housing in Cape Town. The community living there moved in shortly after the provincial government sold the Tafelberg property in Sea Point to a private buyer. Non-profit organisation Ndifuna Ukwazi and the Reclaim the City (RTC) movement had said the government shouldn't be selling land but using it for public good, especially in the midst of a housing crisis. The Tafelberg matter is still before the courts.

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The residents of Cissie Gool House mostly feel let down by the government. Many who live there have been on the housing list for decades and have given up any hope of the government solving the housing crisis.

Resident Nazeem Rakiep works in the communal kitchen, doing maintenance and helping cook every Friday. He has been living there for more than two years. "I was living in my car. I used to live in Salt River, all my life. About 14 years ago, I could afford to buy a place."

Rakiep went to the council to put his name on the housing list when he got married in 1982, but later he was able to afford his own house. "Then things happened and I lost the house. I went back to them to find out where [is] this house that I've been waiting for. They told me that I'm off the list because of the house I bought.

"I had to apply again about 10 years ago and still nothing to this day. There's people living here that have been on the waiting list for more than 20 years. You hear and see people getting places and it's youngsters as well. Now how does this work?"

23 February 2021: Nazeem Rakiep does the maintenance in the communal kitchen at Cissie Gool House. He also helps cook for the residents every Friday with fresh vegetables from the garden. He has been living in the building for more than two years.

He says the City's plans to go through with evictions upset him, and that residents would rather engage with the City than have the matter heard in court. "It makes me angry. Even during Covid, we ran a soup kitchen. Not once did they come. They didn't come here because they have branded us as criminals. How can you brand someone as a criminal if you don't know and didn't see for yourself?

"We've been inviting them several times to come and sit down with us. I would love that, because then they could see what was really happening here."

'Why the U-turn?'

The City of Cape Town released a media statement in February that said a court-ordered survey of the residents of Cissie Gool House was needed to "determine the number of illegal occupants at Woodstock Hospital, their identities, monthly income and eligibility for state-subsidised housing, and willingness to vacate the property so that social housing plans are not further delayed.

"Development of social housing is not possible unless all the illegal occupants vacate the site. If needs be, the City will pursue eviction proceedings subject to lockdown regulations."

Mayoral committee member for human settlements Malusi Booi claimed that: "Several other well-located City projects in Woodstock are set for major milestones this year, with a projected total of around 620 social housing units. Pine Road is due to break ground, Dillon Lane is at the development application stage and Salt River Market is now just months away from handover to a social housing developer."

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In a counter statement, Reclaim the City said: "We are deeply disappointed that the City abandoned the dialogue process we had started together in 2019 and now moves to evict us without meaningfully engaging us as it is constitutionally required to do. Why the U-turn?

"In recent months, the City has tried to portray us as criminals and vandals, but ... the City's own departments recognise that the families living in Cissie Gool House have kept the buildings clean, safe and well-maintained ... [and] acknowledge that Cissie Gool House is 'well-run' by the families that live here.

"The Cissie Gool House occupation has shown us that we can have a seat at the table, but we must remain strong and make sure that our seat isn't taken away from us. Now that the City is building social housing, we do not want to be left out in the cold again. To the City we say: 'Nothing about us, without us!' RTC has invited (and again invites) the City into our spaces to engage on the serious question of what should happen to the families living in the occupations and ask to be part of a solution to protect housing rights and allow them to remain in place."

23 February 2021: There are still signs of the former hospital but its new residents have done everything they can to make this once-abandoned building feel more like home.

'We are families here'

Under threat of mass eviction during a pandemic, the occupiers at Cissie Gool House face an uncertain future.

Youth monitor Amanda Gericke runs a makeshift library and meeting room, where children come for after-school activities. They also screen movies on Saturdays for the youth and host other activities such as drawing and dance classes.

Gericke worries about being evicted. "I've got absolutely nowhere to go. There's no family I can go to, I will end up in the street. I am looking for a job around here. I can't afford to be thrown far out there. I am praying that they will get us a place where they will build us affordable housing, anything in the inner city. So the people can still go to work and the children can still go to school and be close to transport.

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"My hope for this occupation is that they [the City] come and speak to us and see that we are families here. Come and look how we are living and see what we are doing here with the children, the garden, and see how we have bettered this place. Before we came here, there were birds and rats living in here. It was filthy. We cleaned up this whole place. We fixed up where we could fix up. My hope is that they will come and talk to us," she says.

The matter of the court-ordered survey, with a view to eventually going ahead with the eviction of the occupiers of Cissie Gool House, is scheduled to be heard in the Cape Town high court in April.

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Cissie Gool dwellers want talks, not evictions

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It has been almost four years since residents occupied the Woodstock Hospital in Cape Town, now known as Cissie Gool House. The only living things there then were birds and rats. The people living there have turned the building into not only a home but also a community, and now the threat of eviction hangs over their heads.