Fed up residents evict home’s occupier

Published Mar 30, 2015

Share

Pretoria - Furniture, clothes and kitchen utensils out on the street bore testimony to events of on Sunday when angry residents of Atteridgeville Extension 7 forcefully evicted a man from an RDP house they claimed was unlawfully occupied.

Tempers had been flaring since early morning and residents declared they were fed up with corruption and irregularities in the allocation of the houses.

As onlookers watched, a protester got inside the man’s car, tossed aside a pack of condoms on the seat, and with the help of two others, pushed the car out of the yard.

Alfred Sello, who had documents to prove he was the rightful owner of the house, stood near the front door and held up the keys while the crowd applauded.

As they walked away, an elderly woman who identified herself as the mother of the occupant, Tsietsi Molala, came in through the back gate.

She was furious and yelled “the house would eat up” Sello, just as it did to his late father.

Molala had attempted to argue with the crowd and at one stage told them it was a family matter, which he said they could resolve on their own.

Sello is his cousin.

But his reluctance to sign an agreement that he would vacate the house was his undoing.

Within minutes, the house was empty and floors swept, with a safe in the corner his only remaining belonging.

The main door and two gates were locked with chains when the large crowd left and went to another house.

Sello, who said he was renting a room elsewhere at R600 a month, told the Pretoria News he would move into the house as soon as possible.

At the second house, the residents had earlier left a letter giving the occupant seven days to vacate the house or be evicted.

The occupants, who asked not to be named, invited the leadership inside and expressed concern that taking a mob there placed his and his family’s safety at risk.

While the impatient crowd called for eviction, an agreement was reached to meet today to discuss the matter further.

From there, the residents took matters into their own hands and decided to evict the occupants of the RDP houses by themselves.

Where the occupants were not available, letters were left warning them to “move out of the house which does not belong to you” within seven days, failure of which would result in eviction.

Led by Stimamollo community policing forum leader Jack Phahlane, they snaked through the streets singing Struggle songs and holding placards.

Phahlane said RDP houses were occupied by people with no right to be there while title deed holders had nowhere to stay.

There are people who owned several houses, while those who were employed and should not have RDP houses were also occupants, he said.

“This situation, which the forum has been fighting for many years, has to come to an end.

“These people rent out the houses and collect large sums of money monthly while they live in affluent areas,” Phahlane said.

City of Tshwane mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale said the municipality remained committed to cleaning up the housing sector.

Manale said it was wrong to lease out or sell an RDP house before occupants became the legal owner, which was in about eight or nine years.

“When communities take action on these matters, the government will not always be readily available to help, as was the case on Sunday,” said Manale.

He condemned the action by residents, but said their frustrations were understandable.

“Community leaders should meet with the MMC for Housing and Sustainable Human Settlement Development Joshua Ngonyama, to discuss a way forward,” he said.

[email protected]

Pretoria News

Related Topics: