Blikkiesdorp

Blikkiesdorp was built by the City of Cape Town in 2007 in response to a court order. It contains approximately 1,600 one-room structures. According to government officials, it cost over 30 million rand to build.{{cite news|url=http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-10-09-dumping-ground-for-unwanted-people| title='Dumping ground' for unwanted people| newspaper=Mail and Guardian|date =9 October 2009}}

The structures have walls and roofs made of thin galvanised corrugated iron sheets. They are of 18 square meters in size. Ablution, sanitation, and water facilities are shared between four structures.Western Cape High Court order: City of Cape Town vs Symphony Way, 7 October 2009{{cite web| url=http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=108031,1,22| title=City gets eviction order for pavement dwellers| publisher=The Citizen}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Blikkiesdorp is regarded as unsafe[http://allafrica.com/stories/201110281069.html Cape Town Administration Violates the Rights of the Poor], Carmen Ludwig, All Africa, 27 October 2011 and it has become well known for its high crime rate, its substandard living conditions, and its extremely hot or cold, windy and sandy living environment.{{cite web|url=http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=180&art_id=vn20100106042319208C782284| title=Soaring heat keeps rescuers on high alert| publisher=IOL}}{{cite web|url=http://antieviction.org.za/2009/11/24/media-life-in-the-tin-jungle-of-blikkiesdorp/|title=Life in the tin jungle of Blikkiesdorp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326022118/http://antieviction.org.za/2009/11/24/media-life-in-the-tin-jungle-of-blikkiesdorp/|archive-date=26 March 2010}}{{cite news|url=http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4815373| title=Forced Removals| newspaper=The Mercury|date=29 January 2009}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/01/south-africa-world-cup-blikkiesdorp| title=Life in 'Tin Can Town' for the South Africans evicted ahead of World Cup| newspaper=The Guardian| location=London | first=David | last=Smith | date=2010-04-01}} Residents have been reported to be suffering from depression.[http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96656/SOUTH-AFRICA-The-psychological-strain-of-living-in-Tin-Can-Town The psychological strain of living in Tin Can Town], by Anna Majavu, IRIN News, November 2012

It has been called an informal settlement by the city of Cape Town officials despite its formal structure being built by the government. In response to the criticisms, the city has called Blikkiesdorp the safest informal settlement in Cape Town.{{cite web| url=http://antieviction.org.za/2009/05/05/media-city-compares-blikkiesdorp-to-informal-settlements/| title=City compares Blikkiesdorp to informal settlements| publisher=Anti-Eviction Campaign| date=4 May 2009| access-date=18 November 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004182220/http://antieviction.org.za/2009/05/05/media-city-compares-blikkiesdorp-to-informal-settlements/| archive-date=4 October 2011| url-status=dead}} It has also been compared to a concentration camp by residents and in national{{cite news| url=http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1086475| title='We don't want to live in Tin Can Town'| newspaper=The Sowetan| date=9 November 2009| access-date=18 November 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309060127/http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=1086475| archive-date=9 March 2010| url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.abahlali.org/node/4900| title=The Weekender: No temporary solution| publisher=Abahlali|date =14 March 2009}}{{cite web| url=http://antieviction.org.za/2009/10/05/un-affiliated-ngo-asks-the-city-to-reconsider-symphony-ways-eviction-to-blikkiesdorp-which-will-be-decided-in-court-on-wednesday/| title=UN affiliated NGO asks the City to reconsider Symphony Way's eviction to Blikkiesdorp which will be decided in Court on Wednesday| publisher=Anti-Eviction Campaign| date=5 October 2009| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121091511/http://antieviction.org.za/2009/10/05/un-affiliated-ngo-asks-the-city-to-reconsider-symphony-ways-eviction-to-blikkiesdorp-which-will-be-decided-in-court-on-wednesday/| archive-date=21 November 2009}} and international media.

The City of Cape Town has been criticised for its role in creating Blikkiesdorp. Premier Helen Zille and Mayor Dan Plato have come under fire from residents on many occasions. On 18 November 2009 Dan Plato was visibly harassed by residents who claimed he had lied about when they would receive better housing.{{cite web| url=http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=26656| title=CT mayor accused of lying| publisher=Eyewitness News| date=18 November 2009| access-date=18 November 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722025705/http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=26656| archive-date=22 July 2011| url-status=dead}}

NGOs, international human rights organisations, and the Anti-Eviction Campaign have publicly criticised the conditions in Blikkiesdorp and how they say it is used to reinforce the eviction of poor families especially to make way for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121075089| title=Homeless S. Africans Complain Ahead of World Cup| publisher=NPR}}[http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/worldcup/2012084369_soccersaf11.html South Africa's poor complain of evictions as country prepares to host World Cup] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725035247/http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/worldcup/2012084369_soccersaf11.html |date=25 July 2010 }}, Sudarsan Raghavan, The Washington Post, 20 June 2010 Residents have also threatened to burn down Blikkiesdorp because of the bad conditions in the settlement.{{cite web| url=http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=bd840a7ebfc64210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&channelPath=South%20Africa%20%3E%3E%20Land%20Affairs| title=Delft squatters not prepared to relocate despite court ruling| publisher=SABC| access-date=14 January 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100901015043/http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=bd840a7ebfc64210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&channelPath=South%20Africa%20%3E%3E%20Land%20Affairs| archive-date=1 September 2010| url-status=dead}} Ahead of the 2010 World Cup the British anti-poverty charity War on Want created a virtual model of Blikkiesdorp featuring videos of residents talking about conditions in the settlement.{{cite web| url=http://www.waronwant.org/overseas-work/south-africa-and-the-2010-world-cup/watch/watch/16899-welcome-to-blikkiesdorp| title=Welcome to Blikkiesdorp| publisher=War on Want| access-date=3 June 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616133814/http://www.waronwant.org/overseas-work/south-africa-and-the-2010-world-cup/watch/watch/16899-welcome-to-blikkiesdorp| archive-date=16 June 2011| url-status=dead}}

Blikkiesdorp has also been compared with the alien camp from the international hit movie District 9 on numerous occasions. This even earned it a front page spread in the South African tabloid The Daily Voice.Blikkiesdoprp housingdisaster has become Cape Flats' own...District 9 in the Daily Voice, South Africa, 3 October 2009{{cite web|url=http://antieviction.org.za/2009/10/05/un-affiliated-ngo-asks-the-city-to-reconsider-symphony-ways-eviction-to-blikkiesdorp-which-will-be-decided-in-court-on-wednesday/|title=UN affiliated NGO asks the City to reconsider Symphony Way's eviction to Blikkiesdorp which will be decided in Court on Wednesday|publisher=Anti-Eviction Campaign|date=5 October 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091121091511/http://antieviction.org.za/2009/10/05/un-affiliated-ngo-asks-the-city-to-reconsider-symphony-ways-eviction-to-blikkiesdorp-which-will-be-decided-in-court-on-wednesday/|archive-date=21 November 2009}}

Blikkiesdorp has been instrumental in relocating residents evicted from elsewhere in the city. Many evicted residents of Salt River and Woodstock have found themselves in the relocation camp almost 30 kilometers away from town.{{cite web|url=http://rutv4.ru.ac.za/?p=1666| title=Blikkiesdorp: Winner of the Audience Award for best 24min at the RUTV Doc Fest| date=28 September 2009}} It has been called a dumping ground for unwanted and or homeless people from all over Cape Town.{{cite web| url=http://www.sabcnews.co.za/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=81de7814d49a3210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default| title=The fire next time| publisher=SABC| date=11 September 2009| access-date=18 November 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723010328/http://www.sabcnews.co.za/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=81de7814d49a3210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default| archive-date=23 July 2011| url-status=dead}} The evicted Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers were moved to Blikkiesdorp in October 2009 after occupying Symphony Way for almost two years.[http://www.opendemocracy.net/christopher-mcmichael/cape-town-model-state-violence-and-military-urbanism The Cape Town model, state violence and military urbanism],

Christopher McMichael, Open Democracy, 5 January 2012

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has been implicated in draconian policing measures in Blikkiesdorp Temporary Relocation Area in Delft, Cape Town. Police have been accused of suppression of freedoms and illegal curfews.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/01/south-africa-world-cup-blikkiesdorp/|title=Life in 'Tin Can Town' for the South Africans evicted ahead of World Cup|publisher=The Guardian Newspaper | location=London | first=David | last=Smith | date=2010-04-01}}{{cite news|url=http://antieviction.org.za/2009/10/20/media-somalis-harassed-and-threatened-but-too-broke-to-leave/|title=Somalis harassed and threatened, but too broke to leave|publisher=Anti-Eviction Campaign|access-date=2 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405215952/http://antieviction.org.za/2009/10/20/media-somalis-harassed-and-threatened-but-too-broke-to-leave/#|archive-date=5 April 2010|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=http://antieviction.org.za/2009/01/18/photos-blikkiesdorp-the-symphony-way-tra/|title=Photos: 'Blikkiesdorp', the Symphony Way TRA 18 01 2009|publisher=Anti-Eviction Campaign|access-date=18 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124193537/http://antieviction.org.za/2009/01/18/photos-blikkiesdorp-the-symphony-way-tra/#|archive-date=24 November 2009|url-status=dead}} They have also been accused of gratuitous violence against innocent bystanders during drug raids and turning the settlement into a concentration camp.{{cite news|url=http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20100315103533737C593458/|title=Man shot by cops 'can't sit down properly'|publisher=IOL}}{{cite news|url=http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/cape-town-homeless-relocated-during-world-cup-4688.html|title=Cape Town homeless relocated during World Cup|publisher=Play the Game}}

• No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way is an anthology written by the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers about their - at the time - pending eviction to Blikkiesdorp
• [http://www.vimeo.com/9214594 'Tin Town', a short documentary on the Symphony Way community in Blikkiesdorp]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140912001744/http://vimeo.com/39571160 Tin Town: the unaccountable cost of the 2010 World Cup]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMrPyBEMipM 'Is Blikkiesdorp Home?']
• Blikkiesdorp Project

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091124193537/http://antieviction.org.za/2009/01/18/photos-blikkiesdorp-the-symphony-way-tra/ Blikkiesdorp Photos]
• [http://www.vimeo.com/9214594 'Tin Town', a short documentary on the Symphony Way community in Blikkiesdorp]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140912001744/http://vimeo.com/39571160 Tin Town: the unaccountable cost of the 2010 World Cup]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2010/apr/01/world-cup-2010-south-africa Blikkiesdorp Photos from the Guardian UK]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100621053102/http://www.zoopy.com/video/2lg9/blikkiesdorp Blikkiesdorp (film)]
• [http://www.abahlali.org/node/6970 The Beautiful Gain, music video of a song that refers to Blikkiesdorp by the Chomsky Allstars]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100725104608/http://www.waronwant.org/overseas-work/south-africa-and-the-2010-world-cup/welcome-to-blikkiesdorp War on Want Blikkiesdorp Interactive photographic panorama]

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