The granddaughter of an elderly tenant evicted from Steenvilla housing complex claims her family is struggling financially after the Sheriff of the Court confiscated their documents for safe-keeping.
Arantxa Scheepers, her grandmother Eunice Trompeter and three children were among three families evicted from the complex on August 14.
They are still living there, however, following a court order on August 31.
“They took all our furniture, Sassa card, ID documents, food, fridge, toothbrushes, milk, baby food and kimbis. I felt angry and afraid, because I did not know what would happen to us, where we would go or sleep, or what my children would eat,” said Scheepers.
They are living in the hope that the eviction will be reversed.
“I feel angry that I don’t have money for my children. I can’t tell them that there is no bread or food, or a change of clothes. They don’t understand.
“Without my Sassa card and ID document I can’t draw my social grant money and my granny can’t draw her pension as well, because they’ve got her ID (document), and also the children’s birth certificates and their clinic cards,” Scheepers said.
According to Sohco, which owns the complex, and the Sheriff, the family may access their belongings.
Scheepers said when they asked the Sheriff for their documents, he referred them to Sohco, which asked them to provide an address to which their belongings could be sent.
The address they provided at the neighbouring Sharedon Park’s Diamond Drive had been too near Steenvilla, they were allegedly told by Sohco, said Scheepers.
Sohco chief executive Heather Maxwell said Trompeter’s eviction prohibited her from entering the Steenvilla complex.
She said Trompeter had a significant amount of arrears and did not respond to Sohco’s attempts to find a solution to avoid eviction.
“The SAPS instructed the Sheriff not to leave goods from the units outside the complex, so they were placed in safe storage. They have been available from August 15.”
Scheepers claimed an offer to pay off the arrears and rental had been ignored.