Fadiel Adams is well known as the leader of Gatvol Capetonians. They’re an organisation fighting for housing for the coloured community which forms the majority of residents. His adversary is the City of Cape Town, led by the Democratic Alliance (DA).

There are unfair claims that the city is the most unequal when comparing the rich to the poor. But South Africa, as a whole, is one of the worst in the world, and, nationally, Cape Town makes the top 10.

It’s more noticeable in Cape Town because of the shacks alongside the ride from the airport to the CBD, and because the highest concentration of security guards in the country are found in the town centre and rich areas. Contrastingly, there are places in the townships where the police and ambulances are too scared to go.

For many, the fall of apartheid promises in 1994 remain unfulfilled. If you’re poor, you’re likely to stay poor; have no job or car, be surrounded by drug addiction, and be flooded in Winter.

There are great-grannies still living in squalor. For those seeking work, it’s a major obstacle that Apartheid ensured they were settled far away from job opportunities – 25 years later, not much has changed.

For 8 August 2019, Gatvol Capetonians called for a “Total Shutdown” of major roads into Cape Town. The wet weather put a damper on the protest but there was intermittent success on 9 routes.

The City of Cape Town is accustomed to protests. What made this remarkable is that Mayoral Committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, stated that leader Fadiel Adamsn would be criminally charged and held liable for R1.5-million in damages.

I asked Adams for comment:

“The protest was arranged due to the blue party’s perpetuation of apartheid spacial planning. The poor live like sardines while the DA sells off large tracts of land to its developer friends.

We’ve repeatedly called for a peaceful shutdown. We call for the swift and immediate arrest of anyone who has damaged property or endangered lives.

The City uses apartheid-styled tactics to intimidate us. The City wants to lay claims and charges in attempt to silence me. Yet the SAPS currently has no warrant with my name on it.

I invite them to arrest me. I invite Mayor Dan Plato to come and perjure himself in a court of law.

The city complains of R1.5 million in damages that could’ve built houses but doesn’t refer to the R1-billion housing budget it refused to spend. No one has been disciplined for it, no one has been held accountable.

The City must know that this is the first punch in twelve rounds. The poor will not be silenced!

It’s clear the DA has declared war on the poor. Let JP Smith and his dogs know we’re not afraid.”

I expect that if Adams is arrested, it will motivate the Gatvol movement.

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