Carlo Petersen
A MOTHER of two young children has spoken of the fear that gripped her when a group of Hout Bay residents surrounded a derelict council-owned building she had been living in and burnt it to the ground.
The derelict building, dubbed “The White House”, had been a crime hot spot and a bone of contention for Hout Bay residents since 2013.
On Tuesday night, a group of people set the house alight, burning the roof down and leaving its contents destroyed.
Sheena Finck, 28, had been living in the building with her sons Aden, 5, and three-year-old Elroy for the past two years.
Finck said she witnessed a large group of people gathering at the house “with hammers” on Tuesday night.
“When they came here, I was still inside with my sons. I went to the police station and the police said I must contact law enforcement, but the phone number was not working.
“I came back to the house and went inside. Then they threw a burning tyre through my window. I was screaming and the boys started crying. I grabbed my sons and ran outside. I saw them throwing tyres on to the roof,” she said.
Finck returned to the house with Elroy yesterday. She told the Cape Times she was looking for her identity document and Elroy’s birth certificate.
“I have lost everything and I now have nowhere to go. I don’t understand why they had to do this,” she said.
Finck said five other people had been living in the house, who are now also homeless.
Hout Bay resident Valerie Smidt, 48, has since offered Finck and her sons temporary residence at a crèche in the area.
A spate of crimes near the “problem building”, including the murder of Congolese national Nchikala Ngoy, 27, raised the ire of the community members, who went on a manhunt for his killers last week.
Hout Bay Civic Association (HBCA) secretary Roscoe Jacobs had criticised the City for failing to curb crime he said was emanating from the building.
Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith said: “What the group (which burnt down the house) has done is extremely dangerous, reckless and extraordinarily problematic. People’s lives were endangered. It is a definite case of arson.”
Police spokesperson André Traut said the City had not yet lodged an official complaint about the building being burnt down.
Last night, Mayco member for Transport Brett Herron said the building belonged to Transport for Cape Town, and that an official complaint would soon be lodged with police.
Jacobs said: “I had no idea it was going to happen. I came there and saw the house was burning. Whatever was planned, I was not aware of it.”
Jacobs instead pointed a finger at the City, saying it had failed to take action when frustration was expressed by the community.
“It’s clear that this was a reaction to the City’s failure to demolish this problem building despite being made aware of it for two years now. We have had numerous crimes near that building because criminals do drugs there and then they go out and mug people for money for more drugs.
“The City has failed the people of Hout Bay and this is the result,” he said.
Spokesperson for the foreign national community in Imizamo Yethu, Valery Baleko, said foreigners were still “very angry” about Ngoy’s murder.
“We are happier now that the house is burnt down. Criminals were hiding in there after robbing our people.”
Smith said the City has obtained an application for a demolition order, and that the Safety and Security directorate had also applied for emergency funding to have the house boarded up.
“Either one of the two could happen within the next month or two, but we may also have to apply for an eviction order first,” Smith said.