Photos of shacks on a Cape Town beach have gone viral on social media.
Image via Facebook
@mphakama
Land invasion? South Africans react to pics of shacks on Cape Town beach
Beachfront property? Pictures of a cluster of shacks on a Cape Town beach have gone viral…but it’s not what it seems.
Photos of shacks on a Cape Town beach have gone viral on social media.
Image via Facebook
@mphakama
South Africans are reacting to pictures of some “beachfront property” in Cape Town that went viral on social media. But we’re not talking about multimillion-rand mansions…the dwellings behind all the ruckus are, in fact, shacks.
However, all is not what it seems after the images captured at Macassar beach, in False Bay, were claimed to be part of a film set.
CAPE TOWN RESIDENTS REACT
Reminiscent of a scene from a Leon Schuster movie, the pictures caused quite a commotion on Facebook and Twitter.
“The way it was so hot, people are moving close to the beach,” said the Facebook user who posted the viral pics.
In Leon Shuster’s hit 2010 movie Survival Guide to South Africa, the comedian staged a prank by pretending to be a shack-dweller who set up his home at Sea Point beach, in Cape Town.
In scenes from the movie, Schuster is seen fighting off several angry local residents protesting to informal settlements being erected in their neighborhood.
Fear of ‘land invasion’
And just like the movie, many Capetonians were also annoyed at the pics posted online. Others feared it was the start of “land evasion”.
“South Africa is a mess.”
“Redefining sea view, noko this is too much!”
“Does this look right to you? Turning a beautiful beach into a slum.”
“This is a disaster – we need to sort this out”
Twitter
Cape Town resident Nathalie Phillips told IOL: “When I saw these photos of these structures, I thought it was people illegally invading land to set up illegal structures”.
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Following the social media backlash, authorities quickly set out to debunk the ‘land invasion’ commotion caused by the viral pics.
The City of Cape Town’s spokesperson Luthando Tyalibongo said it had approved a section of Macassar beach to be used as a film set.
“This is a film set for a feature film that will be shot over the next four days. The structures will be dismantled and removed upon completion of the shoot”.
Mayoral committee member for human settlements Malusi Booi also debunked the speculation, tweeting: “Film industry is shooting a movie, it’s not an invasion”.
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