The Democratic Alliance (DA) Tshwane Mayoral Candidate, Cilliers Brink, has instructed the DA’s legal team to seek legal relief after learning of the City’s reported plan to relocate residents from the Melgisedek building to Erf R/387 at the corner of Nico Smith Street and Johan Heyns Drive. This proposed site will not meet the needs of its planned residents.
The DA will bring an urgent court application to stop this unjust move. Placing people down on a piece of land that is not suited for human habitation is not the work of a caring government. Quite the opposite. Tshwane plans to do this despite the fact that suitable City-owned community centres exist within the court-mandated relocation zone, and have been used for emergency accommodation in the past. This community centre would not require new infrastructure investment or impose the same impact on surrounding communities.
The DA has been informed that this relocation is scheduled to take place on the 18th – 19th of March 2026.
The ANC-led City of Tshwane is pushing ahead with a major relocation onto an open field in the heart of the Moot, spending public funds on fencing and ablutions, while risking adverse consequences for neighbouring businesses and communities.
To date, the City has undertaken no public participation on this relocation process and has failed to provide the DA with an emergency accommodation plan.
Residents of the Moot, local businesses and the people being relocated all have a right to know what the City’s plan is. What is even more alarming is the City’s public admission that there is no permanent plan in place to prevent this emergency relocation from becoming a permanent settlement.
If the City proceeds in this way, it will not solve the Melgisedek crisis. It will simply move it from one part of Tshwane to another, while exposing vulnerable residents to inadequate conditions and placing new pressure on the surrounding community.
Any relocation must be lawful, properly planned, humane, and based on genuine public participation. Tshwane residents cannot be expected to accept another ANC-made crisis imposed on them. For that reason, the DA is exploring all available legal options to stop any unlawful or irrational relocation to Erf R/387 from proceeding.