Durban - People living, trading and working at the Newmarket Stables and lodge in Morningside are crying foul over eviction notices from the eThekwini Municipality which say they must vacate the area by September 1.
The notices were issued on Monday, but residents and those running businesses in the precinct say they have never been consulted.
Some of the older horses at the stables are likely to be put down if alternative homes cannot be found for them.
Newmarket Riding School head coach Nadine Parker said the municipality showed no consideration for the people whose livelihood they were ruining by shutting down the precinct.
“Over 18 people are going to be unemployed and hundreds of children who come here for lessons are going to lose out,” she said.
The stable is home to more than 50 horses, some belonging to the school and others privately owned by Durban residents. The metro police patrol horses are also kept there.
“We are going to try to find homes for our ponies, but some of them are too old. They are going to have to be put down,” she said.
Groom Vusi Mncwabe, 45, has worked at the stable for 27 years. He said he did not have any other skills and would be unemployed once the stables closed.
Mncwabe became emotional when he spoke about some of the horses that would have to be put down, saying it was going to be hard to say goodbye.
More than a dozen businesses operate from the precinct, employing more than 100 people. The Newmarket Lodge at 9 Jaco Jackson Drive is home to more than 15.
“I thought they were going to build across the road where the Berea Rovers Club is, but now we get these notices,” said Steven Fry, who has been running a boating equipment shop from the lodge for more than eight years.
Fry, who also lives in the building, said he was going to fight the eviction, a sentiment echoed by most.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll fight them to the end,” said Fahim Bail.
The news of eThekwini’s plans to demolish the structures and build a Liverpool Soccer Academy first came to light last year, but the English football club later pulled out of the deal, saying it would find an alternative site for its project.
City manager Sibusiso Sithole said the plans to build an academy would go ahead.
“There is a partnership with various players including the province and the South African Football Association and we can’t back out just because Liverpool is no longer involved,” he said.
He said the city was exercising its rights in terminating the lease agreements.
“eThekwini also has the metro police horses there which are used to patrol the beaches, but we are going to have to find them other accommodation,” he said.
Sithole could not confirm if all the structures would be demolished, saying they would first need to liaise with the KwaZulu-Natal heritage body, Amafa, because some of the buildings were built in the early 1900s.
The disgruntled tenants have taken to Facebook and planned to stage a silent protest at the city hall next Thursday.
Mercury