Pharoe Park eviction leaves Germiston residents homeless

Pharoe Park residents were destitute last Tuesday after being evicted.

Protesters plunged Germiston into chaos when they began burning tyres and debris in the streets.

Residents of Ekurhuleni Housing Company units caused the unrest because they opposed a Johannesburg High Court-ordered eviction.

Germiston South Deputy Sheriff Ijan Kruger carried out the evictions, leaving scores of residents from the Pharoe Park flats displaced.

Many spent the night outside in the cold, as they had nowhere to go.

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“We cannot leave our belongings, and we have nowhere to go. Some residents’ belongings that were taken to allocation were stolen or damaged after being moved to temporary locations,” said Sibonelo Shabangu.

Residents expressed frustration as some were subletting and were left stuck, as landlords are ignoring their phone calls.

Law enforcement has since locked down the flats with heavy security, including the EMPD and local police, guarding the surrounding areas and preventing further clashes.

Protesters attempting to resist were dispersed with rubber bullets.

For residents of Pharoe Park, taking to the streets has become a familiar act of defiance. The latest demonstrations, sparked by a Johannesburg High Court-ordered eviction, are not the first time the community has rallied for change.

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Earlier in March, during the State of the City Address (SOCA), residents gathered outside the Germiston council chambers, calling on the mayor to intervene urgently in their long-standing housing dispute.

Their demands centred on what they believed were deeply flawed housing arrangements.

“Our lives are being disrupted from all sides. Now we have no homes, no electricity, and no answers,” said the residents.

According to the protesting tenants, the units they occupy are RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme) homes, government-subsidised houses meant for ownership, not rental.

Yet, residents say they had to sign leases and pay monthly rent to the Ekurhuleni Housing Company.

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The issue runs deeper. Some residents claim that when they apply for RDP homes through the housing department, their applications are rejected because they are already listed as owning a property – the homes they are renting in Pharoe Park.

“This is unfair. We’ve been here for years, paying rent for houses that should have been ours. On paper, the government says we own them, but in reality, we don’t,” one resident said.

The city confirmed that the EMPD was executing a court order relating to evictions of unlawful occupants in Pharoe Park‘s low-cost rental stock in Germiston, acting in compliance with the directive of the court.

EMPD officers were on-site to maintain law and order and to ensure that the execution of the order was conducted within the confines of the law.