Pretoria - Residents from the Mamelodi west hostels, opposite Sun Valley, were still scrambling for their belongings after being violently evicted by a group of locals.
Witnesses said that a group of about 50 men wielding heavy weapons sealed off the newly built hostels around 10am, demanding they evacuate immediately.
Residents most of whom are foreign nationals were allegedly told they were illegally occupying the residence and that it belonged to locals from Mamelodi.
A resident, who did not want to be named described the incident as horrific and “extremely ugly” and said the men came in carrying all sorts of assault weapons from firearms, baseball bats , sjamboks and chains.
“I just saw mattresses flying from the top floors. Television sets and wardrobes were flung into the air. In a coupe of seconds it was havoc”.
All the doors were kicked down and residents chucked outside, while they were body searched while they lay flat on the ground.
The incident lasted for hours, with no police in sight and while the heavily armed men violently evicted others locals helped themselves to their belongings.
“It was a free for all. clothes, beds, stoves, money,” said a resident from Zimbabwe, who slept outside last night.
A resident said some of the families were being targeted because women in those households were in relationships with foreign men.
But some locals disagree it was about the nationality and attributed it to the crime caused by hostel dwellers.
They said what sparked the attack was the killing of a young man in December while he was on his way to work.
And this month another man was robbed and killed.
The group of men are still unknown although there are many speculations.
Hostel dwellers retaliated later at in the night by blocking roads at the A3 section, subsequently causing a fight between the locals, dwellers and the police.