In a matter of hours, Zanele Thabethe and her three children lost everything they own. Now, all they have is literally the clothes on their back.
Their home was demolished and all their possessions confiscated during a tense eviction raid by the Red Ants yesterday.
“I have no idea where we are going to stay tonight,” a tearful Thabethe said.
She and hundreds of other residents of Univille extension 4 near Lenasia South were evicted from their homes as part of an operation to remove illegal dwellers from the area.
Police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubela confirmed that two residents were killed during the clashes with the Red Ants as the raids continued throughout the day.
Thabethe sat on a cardboard box among the rubble on the floor, in the very same place where her home used to stand. The 28-year-old was yet to break the news to her children that they no longer have anywhere to sleep as they were at school. “I can’t imagine how my children will feel coming back to less of a home than they had when they left for school this morning,” she said.
“I will try my best to erect my shack from what’s left so my children can have a roof over their heads tonight. We have nowhere else to go to, so the only option is to try and rebuild our shacks from the material that was left behind.”
“What they have done is so wrong. They have left young children, old people, and disabled people homeless and now we have nowhere to sleep.”
Nokulunga Msibi*, whose home was also demolished, was appalled by the way the Red Ants had conducted the raids. “We are treated like animals ready for the slaughter,” said Msibi.
“We are deemed necessary when it’s election time. President (Jacob) Zuma’s administration doesn’t care about its people. F*** Zuma.
“The ward councillor for our area is just as detestable. He is sitting in his office while we are being butchered for a piece of land.....".
One of Univille’s community leaders, Sebenzile Mkhonto, said they would be seeking answers from officials as to why residents were evicted without any notice. “You cannot just evict people, residents need to be notified. You cannot just come here and start demolishing homes and shooting people,” said Mkhonto. Residents of Univille, he said, would begin rebuilding their homes. “I don’t have a place to go and stay. Tonight I will be rebuilding my house. They might have taken away my material, but I will go and buy other material. If they want war, war is what we are going to give them.
“No one of us are going to leave. We cannot lose two people and then decide to leave anyway; their deaths would be in vain. Blood has already been shed, we not going anywhere. If they want to continue killing us they can come and kill us. They can keep on coming until they finish us all off.”
*Not their real names