Ottery organisations determined to lease land they were evicted from

From left, are Christo Williams (Ottery Welfare Network), Anthony Simons (Vineyard Revival Ministries), Pastor Noel Thomlinson (Vineyard Revival Ministries), Kurt Adams (Ottery Welfare Network), Cornelius Japtha (The Great Commission), Pastor Robert Adams (Carriers of Christ Zenith Fellowship) and Abe Braaf (paralegal advisor)

Leaders of Ottery non-profit organisations say they will appeal to the Department of Public Works to lease part or all of the property from which they were evicted from at the Ottery People’s Centre which had once housed Lotus River High School, (“Ottery organisations protest against evictions”, Southern Mail, March 31).

Attending the hearing at Western Cape High Court, on Thursday April 29, were the group of respondents from the Ottery People’s Centre and their legal advisor, Abe Braaf.

According to Kurt Adams, operational director of the Ottery Welfare Network (OWN), the matter was postponed until Thursday July 29.

“Respondents agreed to appeal to the Public Works department to lease the land or part thereof,” he said.

“The group is busy obtaining support in the community about leasing the land, to continue doing community and social development work in the gang-ridden and drug infested Ottery.”

Mr Braaf said he had sent a letter requesting a meeting about the land, to Human Settlements MEC Tertuis Simmers, national Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia De Lille as well as Bonginkosi Madikizela who last week resigned from his post as Public Works MEC.

Mr Braaf said he feared that if they did not make an appeal to lease the land, it “might end up in the hands of rich land development and be lost to the poor.”