District Six pensioner likely to be evicted for a second time
The 73-year-old was outside the Western Cape High Court on Thursday, where he joined about 60 others who illegally occupied Irene Grootboom House in Darling Street, to challenge being evicted from the site.
A group of about 60 pensioners illegally occupying the Irene Grootboom House in Cape Town’s Darling Street, gathered outside the Western Cape High Court on Thursday, 19 June 2025, to challenge being evicted from the site. Picture: Carlo Petersen/EWN
CAPE TOWN - A pensioner who was forcibly removed from District Six during apartheid now faces being evicted from the area for the second time.
The 73-year-old was outside the Western Cape High Court on Thursday, where he joined about 60 others who illegally occupied Irene Grootboom House in Darling Street, to challenge being evicted from the site.
An Irene Grootboom house occupant, Barrymore Jossie, says being served with an eviction notice to vacate the Darling Street property feels like apartheid all over again.
Jossie and about 60 other illegal occupants living in the three-storey building were handed eviction notices earlier this month.
Jossie recalls his experience in 1972.
"I couldn't understand... When I asked my grandmother why? She said the white man wants us out, bottom line. They don't want us... They want to get rid of anyone that's not of a proper colour."
The 73-year-old has called on the government not to behave in a similar way.
"That was in the past... If there is Ubuntu in this country, then why don't the government show it to us? If we are one, then give us a fair share."
Housing activists Ndifuna Ukwazi are opposing the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure's application for the eviction of the occupants from site.