Pretoria - The fight to have a place to call home is far from over for the residents of the downtown RNS building on Madiba Street.
Tenants of the building were on Thursday seen sifting through heaps of belongings that had been taken out of the building by the Red Ants.
Over 100 families were evicted from the dilapidated building near the gutted Schubart Park after the landlord implemented a court order stating that the tenants had failed to comply with conditions set by the high court for them to stay.
The Red Ants stormed the building in the early hours of Wednesday and started removing mattresses, cupboards, chairs and appliances. Residents were refused entry and by mid-afternoon they were sitting forlornly beside their belongings on pavements together with their children without the slightest idea of where they would sleep over night following the abrupt eviction.
The high court in Pretoria had given the tenants temporary relief after ruling that they should be allowed back pending the resolution of a dispute between them and the landlord.
“We went to court and the judge said we could move back in until the case is over,” said tenant Mpho Calvin.
He said some tenants had moved their belongings after finding alternative places for the night when they heard they could move back, albeit temporarily. But, he said, many found their property damaged and some items stolen after they were dumped outside. Some even lost their IDs.
Tuelo Mokgare, an attorney who previously represented the tenants said one of the conditions set for them to stay was that they had to pay rent by the first day of every month.
“There was an agreement between the tenants and the landlord which stated that they needed to pay rent on the first of every month, and if they failed to do so, they would be evicted. I received a message from the landlord that he was going to evict the tenants as they had not paid rent since November,” said Mokgare.
However, a member of the tenants’ committee said the matter had been taken to the rental tribunal for mediation and had not yet been finalised. Ephraim Mathole claimed tenants had paid rent, and that the problem was rooted in the landlord’s messy book keeping system.
Pretoria News