We need your help
At this very moment, our Cape Town-based animal charity, SA.MAST (South African Mass Animal Sterilisation Trust) is under threat from a mass land invasion which has surrounded our animal clinic, hospital and shelter.
One attempted break-in has already taken place and our road and animal ambulance entrances have been repeatedly blocked. The ringleaders driving expensive cars and those employed by the ringleaders, have made aggressive and clear threats of violence, including threats to burn the facility down, and death threats to our staff, who now fear coming to work.
Shack Farming
The majority of the shacks have been built by people living elsewhere. It is their intention to rent these shacks out to the highest bidder – including the establishment of shebeens, taverns, drug dens and chop shops. Crime, including shootings, has already increased and neighbouring residents are fearful for their safety too.
Please watch the severity of the situation
Why we need to act now
For over a decade, SA.MAST is the only animal welfare organisation which has consistently conducted a free mass animal sterilisation with primary treatments programme throughout South Africa’s largest township – significantly reducing the birth rate of unwanted and unsupportable litters and curbing the spread of diseases and infections that threaten the health of human residents in Khayelitsha.
We also treat the sick and injured and rescue and re-home abandoned or surrendered cats and dogs.
Our facility, already under significant pressure during the current national crisis, has 13 skilled, committed employees, who depend on this work for their livelihoods.
Whether you care about the animals, whether you care about protecting the health of all Khayelitsha residents, whether you care about the people who depend on SA.MAST for employment or whether you care about the rule of law:
THIS CASE MATTERS.
WE ARE ASKING ALL OF YOU TO PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHORITIES – ELECTED OFFICIALS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, SAPS, METRO POLICE & SANDF WHO MUST WORK TOGETHER.
WRITE A LETTER. SEND AN EMAIL. MAKE A PHONE CALL. SEND A TEXT.
Politely but firmly, assist the authorities to understand why their help is urgently needed & ask them what their immediate intentions are to protect SA.MAST, our patients and our community.
AS SMALL AS THESE ACTIONS MAY SEEM, THEY ARE THE VERY MEANS BY WHICH ALL SUCCESSFUL ACTIVISM IS CONDUCTED.
Please report any comments made in reply, even if it is no comment at all. We will hold all officials to account for statements they make in response to this dire situation and pursue all all legal avenues for the solution of this problem.
