Cape Town — The rule of law must prevail at the N2 Gateway at Delft where more than 1 000 backyard dwellers were illegally occupying unfinished government housing, says the Housing Department.

This after the Cape High Court on Monday dismissed the backyard dwellers' applications for leave to appeal the eviction order. "The houses must be returned to the building contractors for repair and completion, and allocated according to the equitable allocation policy agreed to by the three spheres of government at the commencement of the N2 Gateway Pilot Project," said department's Director General Itumeleng Kotsoane on Tuesday.

Mr Kotsoane said the project needs to be protected from anarchy and should be nurtured by all South Africans. "It is a project that should be nurtured and guarded by all South Africans and the Department of Housing is committed to ensuring that the project can proceed with minimum delay and renewed vigour," said Mr Kotsoane. The houses meant for residents of another settlement were being cleared to make way for a government housing project. Police moved in early on Tuesday morning to aid the eviction process, carried out by the Sheriff of the Court.

Mr Kotsoane said the government's N2 Gateway housing project to provide accommodation for the poorest of South Africans was built on a pioneering housing policy. The N2 Gateway is a national pilot project aiming to pioneer a new and improved housing policy that will see the delivery of more and better-quality houses for the poorest South Africans in integrated human settlements.

It entails providing 22 000 homes, associated infrastructure, community facilities, and access to transportation and economic opportunities. The project has been paid for by all nine provinces, to provide decent homes for people currently living in informal settlements.

The first 705 completed units (Phase 1) were placed on the rental market in 2007 and are fully occupied. Since 1994 the government has built 2.4 million RDP homes, which house more than nine million people.