By Eleanor Momberg
A group of children played house among broken bottles, plastic bags and other rubbish dumped on a farm outside Meyerton on Saturday as their parents contemplated what the future held for them.
The community of about 80 people, of whom half are children, have been homeless in freezing weather since being evicted from Beer's Farm, where some had lived for more than 40 years.
Now they have nowhere to go, spending their days next to bonfires among their belongings piled in the veld about 5km from their former homes.
The plight of the Beer's Farm community erupted in a war of words between the DA-controlled Midvaal municipality and the ANC-controlled Sedibeng district municipality last week with Midvaal accusing their neighbours of instigating a land invasion.
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In 2008, the Midvaal municipality obtained a court order for the demolition of shacks on the farm.
Papers were served on the farm owners, but not on the community living there.
According to papers filed in the South Gauteng High Court on Friday, the farm's caretaker had told the community their homes were to be demolished and that they had to vacate the premises by mid-December 2008.
But, the community had informed the caretaker that they would be unable to comply as they had nowhere else to go.
On June 26, the Red Ants arrived and placed the community's lives in limbo.
Their possessions were removed from their homes, their shacks and houses torn down, and the corrugated iron and other building materials removed.
No alternate land had been made available to them.
With the help of local community leaders, the group was moved to the Michael Rua Primary School where they were allowed to stay until schools re-opened on the Monday.
Bheki Ngobesa, a local community leader, said attempts were made to find a solution to the problem with talks being held with Midvaal mayor Timothy Nast.
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