Pretoria - The City of Tshwane and residents of the new “Malemaville” informal settlement east of Pretoria have reached a stalemate.
This comes after a string of demolitions of shacks and evictions by the city over the past two weeks, with those who have occupied the land refusing to move and simply rebuilding there.
Th shack dwellers claim they have no choice, despite a court order interdicting them from doing so.
On Saturday, Red Ants destroyed 12 shacks which had been erected. Only four shacks were under construction on Monday.
City spokesman Blessing Manale said the city’s land invasion unit met the regional director and MMC for housing on Monday to decide on the course of action before resorting to another eviction. “We believe the cat-and-mouse approach where we demolish and they simply re-build is not assisting.
“We (are now) seeking a long term and sustainable restraining mechanism,” Manale said.
“If we leave, where are we going to go to?” asked Xhelemba Nkosi, one of the 200 squatters on the land which belongs to the City of Tshwane and is located in Nellmapius. “We have been sleeping here since three weeks ago when the city tried to remove us, telling us we do not belong here and that the land was for low-cost houses,” he said.
While talking to the Pretoria News, three men were erecting a basic shack using tent material, plastic and planks. A traffic board which once read “Bronkhorstspruit 40” on Pretoria Road, has been painted over to read “Malemaville”, after Economic Freedom Fighter leader, Julius Malema.
“We have women with children, elderly people who are vulnerable because they are sleeping out in the open. Where are they supposed to go? The municipality is not doing anything with this land, so it only makes sense for us to live here because we are not troubling anyone,” Nkosi said.
The biggest challenge they faced, he said, was the lack of basic services such as water, sanitation, and a roof over their heads. “We have women walking across the main road into Nellmapius with wheelbarrows to fetch water. Anything can happen to them,” he said.
Nkosi described how, after the demolitions, nyaope addicts had helped themselves to their possessions, mainly metallic items which could be sold at scrapyards for a quick buck. “That’s what happened to us. We have fallen prey and are at the mercy of these drug addicts.”
Asked where they had come from prior to the land invasion, he said: “Most of us have been living here for under a month because we cannot afford rent in backrooms at Nellmapius because we are either unemployed or earn very little money.” The father of two said his children were victims of unfair circumstances and that they now attended school sporadically because of the situation.
He said during the day, there were fewer than 20 people on the site, but the number increased exponentially after dark because people returned from work or from the nearby township and RDP areas.
He said the squatters huddled around fires at night to keep warm while preparing modest food.
Nkosi rejected claims that plots were for sale.
Eddie Mathiba, an EFF member, said they would not be bothered by the court order, or subsequent actions adopted by the municipality
.
Pretoria News