Pretoria - Tenants of the RNS House were on Friday afternoon bracing themselves for a chilly night out in the open after they were again evicted from their accommodation by the Red Ants.
The on-and-off clash between tenants and their landlord played itself out again on Friday, resulting in tenants and their belongings being thrown out on Madiba Street.
Tenants who sat next to their belongings on a vacant piece of land on the corner of Madiba and Sophie De Bruyn streets alleged they were evicted before the stipulated date of May 3 as per a court order they had been granted after the previous eviction.
The tenants, who refused to be named, said they were awaiting feedback from their representatives who had gone to court in an attempt to acquire an order against the landlord Shaheer Noormohamed.
“We are not going anywhere even if they keep bringing the Red Ants to remove us. They steal our things every time they are brought in to evict us,”said one tenant.
“He (the landlord) doesn't come here to fix the building so we refused to pay rent until the problems in this building are sorted out, including the restoration of electricity,”said the upset tenant.
Another tenant showed the Pretoria News team wounds he had allegedly sustained on his back from being shot at by the Red Ants during the forced eviction on Friday.
Attorney Naushina Aboo, on behalf of Noormohamed, said they had been battling with “illegal squatters”who had hijacked the building and convinced tenants to stop paying rent. Despite representatives of the tenants agreeing to vacate in December, the instigators had continued to go to court providing false information to get court orders.
She said the last court order they were granted stated that non-paying tenants had to vacate the building by March 24.
“Tenants have been instigated not to pay rent and the landlord has run into severe financial losses as from 2015. More so, the landlord and the maintenance team have continually been denied access into the building to fix the problems they complain about,”said Aboo.
“The landlord can't keep going back and forth on this matter. Our stance is simple - those that are paying rent are more than welcome to stay on, and those who are not are being asked to leave.”
However, tenants rubbished these claims, stating that the landlord had not been to the building in months and they had no contact as to where to send their rent money.
“The person who usually took the rent no longer comes here anymore so what are we supposed to do? We are not crazy; we know there is no way someone can stay in town without paying rent,” a tenant said.
“We refuse to leave and will wait to hear from our representatives... If push comes to shove then we will burn this building down and have everyone lose out,”said the tenant.
Pretoria News