Johannesburg - Rocks and glass bottles came flying at police as they fired rubber bullets at a group of protesters who had blocked parts of Collinder and Chris Hani roads in Soweto.
The protesters were speaking to the press when police came to disperse a large crowd gathering in the road outside their home - an old hospital building which has been turned into 240 family rooms.
The residents were protesting against a 24-hour eviction notice allegedly given to them by the South African Tuberculosis Association (Santa).
“We’ve been living here for five years, we pay the rent like we’re supposed to every month,” said one resident, who identified herself as Gugulethu.
“We found out the original landlord was duping us, he was stealing all our money and the deposits we’d given. He ran away with our money and then Santa took over and demanded we pay money (rent) today or they’d evict us using the Red Ants,” she said.
She said money was not the issue.
“We’re all working, we don’t have a problem with paying the rent, but we want to know that this is a legal process. The lease agreements that they showed us weren’t stamped and had no letterhead or signature; how do we know they won’t cheat us again?” she asked.
Residents appealed to Santa to sit down with them to deal with the process properly instead of going to the high court.
Tyres burnt as black smoke rose into the cold winter sky.
Police ran into the premises, where they continued to fire rubber bullets at the residents.
A clearly shaken woman who had been hiding behind a car was heard asking why they were shooting when they hadn’t been violent.
Another resident, who identified himself as Excellence, said there were 240 families living in the building. “That’s excluding the children. Many of them are writing exams now, we can’t be pushed on to the street. Where will we go? A lot of people didn’t go to work today because they were worried they’d come back and find their things on the street. The conditions in the rooms are also quite bad; we pay rent but use our money to fix the place up,” said Gugulethu.
The group have called on the government to intervene in the matter. “This is a government sector, we need them to come out here and support us. The EFF came yesterday to help us; if the ANC don’t come we will vote EFF,” another woman shouted, adding that they wanted Julius Malema to visit.
@Lanc_02
The Star